THE  GREATER  ABBEYS 
OF  ENGLAND 


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ILLUSTRATED  BY 
WARWICK  GOBLE 


THE  GREATER 
ABBEYS   OF 

ENGLAND 


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THE   GREATER 

ABBEYS  OF 
ENGLAND 

By  ABBOT  GASOUET 

ILLUSTRATIONS    IN    COLOUR    AFTER 
WARWICK    GOBLE 


C  (HC/lf^^  IV; 


LONDON 

CHATTO  ^  WINDUS 

MCMVIII 


The  (i^sign  on  the  front  of 
the  binding  of  this  volume 
represents  the  famous  Three- 
Arch  Bridge  [the  '' Abbot's 
Bridge"]  in  the  village  of 
Qroivland 


Copyright  in  the  United  States  of  America,  190S 

by  Dodd  Mead  &  Company. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


TO  THE  READER 

THE  Abbeys  of  England,  ruined,  dismantled, 
and  time-worn,  are  fitting  memorials  of  a  great 
past.  From  any  pointof  view,  and  whatever  our 
opinion  about  the  utility  or  purpose  of  monastic  life  in 
general  and  about  English  monastic  life  in  particular, 
we  are  constrained  to  confess  that  the  monks  of  old, 
who  built  up  these  "Cliffs  of  Walls  "and  ornamented 
them  with  all  the  wealth  of  carving,  panelling,  and 
moulding  still  to  be  traced  amid  the  moss-grown  ruins, 
have  left,  scattered  over  the  whole  faceof  their  country, 
monuments  of  their  great  work  and  stone  records  of 
their  existence  in  the  land  from  the  earliest  period  of 
our  national  history. 

The  fascination  undoubtedly  exerted  over  the  mind 
of  most  people  by  these  memorials  of  a  past,  whether 
adually  in  ruins  or  partially  saved  from  the  general 
wreck  of  the  sixteenth  century,  may  be  taken  to  dis- 
pense with  any  apology  for  the  existence  of  such  a  book 
as  this.  Those  who  go  to  visit  what  may  be  described, 
without  exaggeration,  as  the  most  attradive  spots  in 
this  land  of  many  interests,  old  and  new,  naturally  desire 
to  possess  some  knowledge  of  the  past  history  of  these 
desecrated  sanduaries  and  to  have  some  lasting  memo- 
rial of  their  visit.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  need  may, 
it  is  hoped,  be  met  by  the  production  of  this  volume; 
whilst  those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of 
visiting  personally  many  of  these  old  abbeys,  may 
also  find  in  it  some  attradion  to  the  story  of  these 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
great  monasteries  which  were,  during  many  generations, 
real  faftors  in  the  life  and  well-being  of  the  English 
people. 

Although  this  book  with  its  artistic  illustrations  does 
not  appear  to  call  for  any  explanation  or  introduction 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  some  few  words  on  one  particu- 
lar point  by  way  of  Preface  may,  perhaps,  be  useful  to 
the  general  reader.  The  spectacle  of  these  ivy-clad  and 
moss-grown  buildings,  roofless  and  weather-beaten  by 
wellnigh  four  centuries  of  exposure  to  rain  and  frost, 
speaks  of  some  great,  some  dire  catastrophe.  They  lift 
to  heaven's  vault  their  broken  walls,  their  capless  pil- 
lars, their  fragments  of  arches,  like  gaunt  skeletons  up- 
raising their  flcshless  arms  in  warning  or  in  protest. 
Some  of  them,  indeed,  are  vast  in  size  and, though  ruined, 
are  yet  so  little  touched  by  the  hand  of  time  as  to  seem 
still  peopled  by  the  ghosts  of  the  men  who  built  them 
centuries  ago.  But  one  and  all  of  these  ruins  which  are 
scattered  all  over  the  face  of  England  appear  to  be  ever 
asking  the  question,"  Why?"  Why  this  wanton  destruc- 
tion? What  wave  of  anger  or  madness  has  wrought  the 
havoc?  Why  have  these  beautiful  sanftuaries,  which 
the  piety  and  generosity  of  generations  of  Englishmen 
raised  to  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  been  wrecked 
and  cast  down  into  the  dust? 

The  common  answer  to  the  riddle  of  these  ruins 
would  probably  be  that  this  complete  and  dire  destruc- 
tion came  upon  the  religious  houses  in  the  days  of 
Henry  VIII,  in  popular  and  righteous  indignation  for 

vj 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  wicked  lives  of  the  men  who  hved  in  them.  They 
stand  as  a  memorial  for  all  time  of  "the  vicious  lives" 
these  so-called  religious  men  were  living  "under  cover 
of  their  cowls  and  hoods."  This  is  a  common  and  ready- 
explanation  often  given,  and  probably  repeated  in  every 
ruin  throughout  the  country,  to  account  for  the  great 
catastrophe  which  overwhelmed  the  religious  houses 
and  has  left  these  ruins  as  evidence  of  the  storm.  But 
is  this  the  truth  or  anything  like  the  truth? 

What  really  happened  to  bring  about  the  suppression 
of  the  English  monasteries  in  the  rapacious  days  of 
Henry  VIII  may  here  be  usefully  but  briefly  set  out. 
The  inception  of  the  idea  of  destroying  the  monasteries 
may  certainly  be  credited  to  the  ingenious,  capable  and 
all-powerful  minister  of  Henry  VIII,  Thomas  Crum- 
well.  He  saw  in  the  monastic  property  a  gold  mine, 
which,  with  a  little  management,  could  be  worked  to 
his  master's  great  profit,  and  out  of  which  pickings 
would  no  doubt  be  possible  for  himself  and  others.  It 
was  necessary  to  prepare  the  way:  to  the  acute  mind 
of  Crumwell  it  was  obvious  that  even  the  subservient 
and  timorous  Parliament  of  Henry  would  hardly  hand 
over  the  private  property  of  the  monks  and  nuns  with- 
out having  some  good  reasons  given  them  for  so  doing. 
The  readiest  way  was  to  blacken  the  character  of  those 
they  wished  to  rob  and  so  convince  the  Parliament  that 
they  were  not  worth  protecting. 

Thomas  Crumwell  was  Henry's  Vicar-General  in 
Spirituals,  and  acting  in  this  capacity  he  projected  a 

vij 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
royal  visitation  of  all  religious  houses  in  the  autumn 
of  1 5  3  5 .  The  subordinates  chosen  by  the  Vicar-General 
for  the  work  were  worthy  instruments  of  their  master, 
and  their  letters  prove  them  to  have  been  utterly  un- 
scrupulous and  entirely  reckless  in  their  accusations. 
At  the  same  time  preachers  were  sent  over  the  country 
to  prepare  the  popular  mind  for  the  contemplated 
seizure  of  monastic  property. These  emissaries  of  Crum- 
well  were  instructed  to  orate  against  the  monks  as  "hypo- 
crites, sorcerers  and  idle  drones,"  etc.;  to  tell  the  people 
that  "the  monks  made  the  land  unprofitable"  and  that 
"if  the  abbeys  went  down,  the  King  would  never  want 
for  any  taxes  again." 

The  destruction  of  the  monasteries  consequently  was 
not  only  an  item  in  the  general  policy  of  Henry  and  his 
minister,  but  it  was  certainly  determined  upon  before  the 
Visitors  were  sent  on  their  rounds,  and  hence  was  quite 
independent  of  any  reports  they  sent  in. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  to  enter  here  into  the  de- 
tails of  the  visitation.  The  work  was  done  so  rapidly  that 
it  was  quite  impossible  that  there  could  have  been  any 
serious  inquiry  into  the  moral  state  of  the  houses  visited. 
That  these  men  who  a(5ted  for  Crumwell  in  this  matter 
suggested  in  their  letters  and  reports  all  manner  of  evil 
against  the  good  name  of  the  monasteries,  is  true,  and 
was  quite  what  was  to  be  expected. 

But  all  these  charges  rest  upon  the  word  of  these 
Visitors  alone  and  from  what  is  known  of  the  character 
of  these  chosen  instruments  no  reliance  can  be  placed 

viij 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
upon  them.  Upon  their  testimony  it  has  been  said, 
"No  one  would  dream  of  hanging  a  dog."  For  the 
benefit  of  any  of  my  readers  who  may  be  indined  to 
think  I  am  biassed  in  this  matter  I  here  set  down  what 
Dr  Jessopp  has  to  say  about  Crumwell's  Visitors.  "When 
the  Inquisitors  of  Henry  VIII  and  his  Vicar-General 
Crumwell,"  he  writes,  "went  on  their  tours  of  visita- 
tion, they  were  men  who  had  no  experience  of  the 
ordinary  forms  of  inquiry  which  had  hitherto  been  in 
use.  They  called  themselves  Visitors;  they  were,  in 
effect,  mere  hired  detectives  of  the  very  vilest  stamp, 
who  came  to  levy  blackmail,  and,  if  possible,  to  find 
some  excuse  for  their  robberies  by  vilifying  their  vic- 
tims. In  all  the  comperta  which  have  come  down  to  us 
there  is  not,  if  I  remember  rightly,  a  single  instance 
of  any  report  or  complaint  having  been  made  to  the 
Visitors  from  anyone  outside.  The  enormities  set  down 
against  the  poor  people  accused  of  them,  are  said  to 
have  been  confessed  by  themselves  against  themselves. 
In  other  words  the  comperta  of  1535-6  can  only  be  re- 
ceived as  the  horrible  inventions  of  the  miserable  men 
who  wrote  them  down  upon  their  papers,  well  knowing 
that,  as  in  no  case  could  the  charges  be  supported,  so,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  no  case  could  they  be  met,  nor  were 
the  accused  ever  intended  to  be  put  upon  their  trial." 
That  these  reports  were  bad  enough  may  be  admitted, 
although  even  they  by  no  means  bear  out  the  charges 
of  wholesale  corruption.  It  is  usually  asserted  that  it 
was  upon  the  evidence  of  the  reports,  whatever  their 


iX 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
worth,  that  Parliament  condemned  the  monasteries  to 
destruction.  It  is,  however,  quite  impossible  that  either 
the  reports,  or  any  precis  of  them  could  have  been 
submitted  to  the  Commons,  or  any  "Black  Book" 
placed  upon  the  table  of  the  House  at  Westminster 
as  so  many  modern  authors  would  have  us  believe. 
One  fact  alone  proves  this.  The  Visitors  inspected  and 
reported  upon  all  religious  houses,  great  and  small,  and 
all  are  equally  besmirched  in  their  letters  and  reports. 
Consequently,  if  the  actual  documents  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Parliament,  it  would  have  been  impossible, 
in  the  preamble  of  the  Act  which  was  passed  suppress- 
ing the  lesser  houses,  to  thank  God  that  the  others — 
"  the  great  and  solemn  abbeys  of  the  realm" — were  in  a 
wholesome  and  excellent  state. 

The  truth  about  the  matter  is  that,  as  the  Act  itself 
states,  the  Commons  passed  the  Bill  of  Suppression  on 
the  strength  of  the  King's  declaration  that  he  knew 
the  facts  to  be  as  had  been  stated  to  them.  It  was  for 
this  reason  alone  they  agreed  to  suppress  them  and  by 
the  King's  desire  drew  the  line  of  moral  delinquency 
at  £200  a  year.  The  more  the  whole  story  is  studied, 
the  clearer  it  becomes  that  from  first  to  last  it  was  a 
question  of  money.  Crumwell  knew  that  he  could  not 
get  the  whole  plum  at  once,  and  so  prudently  he  advised 
his  master  to  content  himself  at  first  with  the  smaller 
portion,  which  he  tried  to  make  men  believe  was  rotten, 
whilst  the  rest  was  in  an  excellent  and  healthy  state. 

The  X200  a  year  standard  of  "good  living"  set  by 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  Act,  made  it  immediately  necessary  to  ascertain 
which  houses  fell  within  the  limit  and  had  been  handed 
by  Parliament  to  the  King  to  be  dealt  with  according 
to  his  "good  pleasure,  to  the  honour  of  God  and  the 
wealth  of  the  realm."  Commissioners  were  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  fate  of  the  various 
houses.  They  included  some  of  the  county  gentry  and 
other  "discreet  persons"  of  the  neighbourhood,  men 
who  knew  the  locality  and  the  members  of  the  religious 
houses.  Curiously  enough,  the  reports  sent  in  by  these 
men  almost  always  contradict  the  accounts  of  Crum- 
well's  inquisitors.  This  is  not  the  case  only  with  one 
house  or  district,  but  as  Dr  James  Gairdner  remarks, 
in  these  reports  when  we  have  them,  "the  charafters 
given  of  the  inmates  are  almost  uniformly  good." 

The  dissolution  of  the  lesser  monasteries  by  virtue 
of  the  A<51  of  1536  accounts  for  some  of  the  English 
monastic  ruins.  So  anxious  were  the  royal  officials 
to  make  the  most  of  the  property  that  had  come  into 
their  possession  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  cast  down 
the  timber  of  the  roof  and  break  up  the  carved  stall 
work  or  screen  for  fuel  to  melt  the  lead  into  pigs. 
Many  a  fine  church  might  have  been  saved  to  posterity, 
had  the  royal  wreckers  not  been  in  such  a  hurry  to 
realise  all  that  could  be  got  from  the  general  wreck  and 
to  gather  in  what  were  called  at  the  time  the  "Robin- 
hood  pennyworths"  for  themselves. 

The  first  A61  of  Dissolution,  strange  as  the  assertion 
may  seem,  was  in  fa6l  the  only  one.  The  rest  of  the 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
abbeys  were  not  legally  suppressed.  They  came  into 
Henry's  hands  by  the  attainder  of  abbots,  as  in  the 
case  of  Woburn  and  Glastonbury,  etc.,  or,  as  was 
generally  the  case,  by  the  free,  though  coerced,  sur- 
render of  the  house  into  the  royal  power.  Then,  when 
all  was  over  and  the  greater  number  of  the  monasteries 
and  their  possessions  were  already  in  the  King's  power. 
Parliament  passed  an  A61  giving  Henry  all  he  had  got 
by  force,  or  by  his  new  interpretation  of  the  law  of 
attainder. 

The  process  of  gathering  in  the  spoils  in  the  case  of 
each  monastery  was  much  the  same  as  that  employed 
in  the  case  of  the  lesser  houses;  and  by  the  time  the 
professional  wreckers  had  finished  their  work,  the  land 
was  left  covered  from  one  end  to  the  other  with  ruins. 
Many  of  these  have  gradually  perished  by  neglect  and 
natural  decay;  many  have  been  used  as  public  quarries 
and  to  get  stone  to  mend  roads,  or  build  cottages  and 
pigsties.  Some  have  survived,  melancholy  memories  of 
the  past,  but  even  in  their  desolation  still  among  the 
finest  architedural  examples  in  the  country. 


xij 


CONTENTS 

Chap.  I   St  Augustine's,  Canterbury  ^^g^  i 

II  St  Albans  lo 

III  Battle  Abbey  22 

IV  Beaulieu  oi 
V  Buckfast  Abbey  37 

VI  Bury  St  Edmund's  42 

VII  Crowland  60 

VIII  Evesham  67 

IX  Furness  Abbey  74 

X  Fountains  85 

XI   Glastonbury  00 

XII  Gloucester  112 

XIII  Jervaulx  120 

XIV  St  Mary's,  York  131 
XV  Milton  138 

XVI  Netley  144 

XVII   Pershore  152 

XVIII   Rievaulx  irn 

XIX  Romsey  167 

XX  Sherborne  174 

XXI  Titchfield  181 

XXII  Tintern  190 

XXIII  Torre  Abbey  198 

XXIV  Thorney  205 
XXV  Whitby  211 

xiij 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

XXVI   Woburn 

219 

XXVII   Waltham  Abbey 

228 

XXVIII   Waverley 

235 

XXIX  Westminster 

244 

XXX  Welbeck 

256 

XXXI  Whalley 

262 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Rievaulx  Abbey  from  the  South  Frontispiece 

Gateway,  St  Augustine's  Abbey,  Canterbury  To  face  p.  4 

St  Albans  Cathedral  from  Verulam  Hills  14 

St  Albans  Cathedral:  the  Norman  Tower  18 

Gateway,  Battle  Abbey  26 

Beaulieu  Abbey:  Door  of  the  Abbey  Church  32 

Beaulieu:  the  Abbot's  House  34 

The  Neighbourhood  of  Buckfast  Abbey  38 

Buckfast  Abbey  40 

Bury  St  Edmund's:  the  Abbey  Gateway  44 

The  Abbot's  Bridge,  Bury  St  Edmund's  48 

Crowland  Abbey  62 

The  Abbot's  Bridge,  Crowland  64 

Evesham  Abbey  68 

Furness  Abbey  76 

The  Cloisters,  Furness  Abbey  82 

Fountains  Abbey:  the  "Surprise  View"  86 

xiv 


oo 


04 


Illustrations 

Fountains  Abbey  from  the  South-East      To  face  p.  88 
Fountains  Abbey:  the  Cloisters  92 

A  Bridge,  Fountains  Abbey  94 

Glastonbury  Abbey:  St  Joseph's  Chapel 
Glastonbury  Abbey:    the  Abbot's  Kitchen  and 

Glastonbury  Tor 
Glastonbury  Abbey :  Remains  of  the  Great  Tower 

and  other  Buildings 
Gloucester  Cathedral  at  Sunset 
Gloucester  Cathedral:  the  Choir 
Gloucester  Cathedral  from  St  Catherine's  Meadows 
Cloister  and  Lavatorium,  Gloucester  Cathedral 
Jervaulx  Abbey 
St  Mary's  Abbey,  York 
Milton  Abbas 

Netley  Abbey:  the  East  Window 
Netley  Abbey:  the  Cloisters 
Netley  Abbey,  looking  West 
Pershore  Abbey 

Rievaulx  Abbey:  Early  Morning 
Rievaulx  Abbey  from  the  South-East 
Rievaulx  Abbey  from  the  Terrace 
Rievaulx:  Church  and  Refectory 
Romsey  Abbey 

Romsey  Abbey:  the  Nuns'  Doorway 
Sherborne,  Abbey  from  the  South  East 
Sherborne  Abbey:  Choir  and  East  Window 
Titchfield  Abbey 
Tintern  Abbey  and  the  Wye 


08 
12 

H 
16 

18 

22 

32 
40 

44 
46 

48 

54 
60 

62 
64 
66 
68 
70 
76 

78 
82 
90 


XV 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Tintern  Abbey  from  the  South-East      To  face  p.  192 

Tintern  Abbey:  Interior  196 

Torre  Abbey  200 

Thorney  Abbey  206 

Whitby  Abbey  and  Town  212 

Whitby  Abbey  from  the  South-West  216 

Woburn  Abbey  220 

The  Abbot's  Oak,  Woburn  224 

Waltham  Abbey  230 

Waverley  Abbey  236 

Westminster  Abbey  from  the  South  East  246 
Westminster  Abbey:   Nave  and  Choir  from  the 

West  248 

Westminster  Abbey:  the  South  Ambulatory  250 
Entrance  to   Henry  VII's   Chapel,  Westminster 

Abbey  252 

Welbeck  Abbey  258 

Whalley  Abbey:  the  Abbot's  House  262 

\The  drawing  of  Evesham  Ahhey^  the  ruins  of  which  afford  no  idea  of  the 
original  buildings^  is  founded^  by  perrnission^  upon  Mr  TV.  T)owty's 
copyright  reconstruction.^ 


XVJ 


THE  GREATER  ABBEYS 

OF  ENGLAND 

CHAPTER  I 

St  Augustine's,  Canterbury 

'ERY  little  remains  to  mark  the  place  where 
once  stood  the  first  monastic  establishment 
made  on  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons 
to  Christianity.  Of  the  church  only  a  few  broken  bits 
of  late  Roman  work,  with,  to  the  south,  some  ruins 
of  the  Chapel  of  St  Pancras  with  its  tombs  and  ancient 
altar,  survive  to  tell  the  tale  of  wanton  destruction. 
Even  the  tower  of  St  Ethelbert,  which  was  built  at 
the  west  end  of  the  church  in  1047,  and  probably  was 
so  termed  because  it  held  the  great  bell  called  by  that 
name,  was  pulled  down  only  in  the  last  century.  Of 
the  monastery,  besides  the  entrance  gate  built  by  Abbot 
Fyndon  in  1300,  the  cemetery  gate  and  the  present 
college  refectory  are  all  that  are  left  of  the  extensive 
buildings,  which  had  a  frontage  of  some  250  feet  and 
the  enclosure  wall  of  which  shut  in  sixteen  acres.  The 
present  college  refectory  was  the  monastic  guest  hall,  and 
its  open  roof  remains  unchanged  to  the  present  day. 
The  wreckers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  neglect  of 
succeeding  generations  and  the  active  spoliation  of 
those  who  sought  stones  for  building  or  for  mending 
the  roads  in  the  neighbourhood,  have  done  their  work 
of  destruction  only  too  well. 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

The  story  of  the  abbey  of  St  Augustine's  is,  on  the 
whole,  uneventful,  although  not  uninteresting.  Canter- 
bury became  the  earliest  centre  of  Anglo-Saxon  Chris- 
tianity and  civilization,  and  the  abbey  w^as  apparently 
the  first  foundation  made  by  the  new^ly-converted 
King  Ethelbert,  and  St  Augustine,  the  apostle  of  our 
race,  for  the  firm  establishment  of  the  religious  life 
according  to  the  rule  of  St  Benedict,  and  in  order  to 
serve  as  the  seat  of  learning  in  the  newly-Christianised 
kingdom.  Ethelbert  was  baptized  in  the  year  597,  pro- 
bably in  the  old  church  of  St  Martin,  used  by  Queen 
Bertha  for  Christian  worship  before  the  coming  of 
Augustine.  This  chapel  was  situated  in  the  suburbs 
of  the  city  and  without  its  walls,  whilst  near  at  hand, 
apparently,  there  was  a  temple  for  the  worship  of 
the  Saxon  deities,  which  at  the  request  of  Ethelbert, 
St  Augustine  dedicated  as  a  Christian  church  under  the 
patronage  of  St  Pancras,  the  boy  martyr  of  Rome. 
The  spot  was  chosen  outside  the  walls  in  order  that  it 
might  form  the  burial  place  for  kings  and  prelates, 
since  by  Saxon  and  British  as  well  as  by  Roman  law 
"  burial  within  the  city  walls"  was  prohibited.  In  this 
case  the  dedication  to  the  boy  St  Pancras  was  probably 
suggested  by  the  memory  of  the  Saxon  youths  of  the 
Roman  forum  who,  according  to  the  well-known  story, 
induced  Pope  St  Gregory  the  Great  to  think  of  the 
conversion  of  England.  In  the  first  instance,  then,  it 
would  appear  that  the  situation  of  St  Augustine's 
Abbey  was  chosen  as  the  place  of  burial  for  kings. 


St  Augusti?tes^  Canterbury 
prelates  and  others.  It  was  on  the  road   to  Rutupias, 
the  port  of  embarkation  for  Gaul,  now  Richborough, 
from  Ethelbert's  capital,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that 
it  was  intended  to  make  an  English  Appian  Way. 

In  a  very  few  years  Ethelbert  determined  to  estab- 
lish in  the  same  place  a  monastery  under  the  patron- 
age of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul.  This  was  in  605,  but  in 
613  the  church  was  dedicated  to  St  Laurence,  and 
the  body  of  St  Augustine  was  transported  hither  and 
buried  in  the  porch.  From  this  time  the  renown  of 
the  place  increased  since  it  became  known  as  the  burial 
place  of  the  illustrious  dead;  and  almost  from  the  first 
the  monastery  became  known  as  St  Augustine's  Abbey. 
Its  early  greatness  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fame 
of  those  who  were  buried  in  the  church,  and  until  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Cuthbert  in  758,  all  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury  had  their  last  resting-places  at 
St  Augustine's,  which  was  known  as  the  S\dater 
primaria,  the  "  first  mother  "  of  all  such  English 
institutions.  Indeed,  long  after  it  had  ceased  to 
hold  its  pre-eminence  as  a  place  of  sepulture,  popes 
speak  of  it  as  "  the  firstborn,"  the  "  first  and  chief 
mother  of  monasteries  in  England,"  and  as  "  the 
Roman  chapel  in  England,"  whilst  the  archbishops  are 
warned  if  they  visit  it,  not  to  do  so  as  its  prelate  or 
with  authority,  but  as  the  brother  of  the  monks.  Whilst 
the  abbot  of  St  Albans  had  the  papal  grant  permitting 
him  to  sit  first  in  all  English  meetings  of  the  Bene- 
dictine Order,  the  abbot  of  St  Augustine's  was  privi- 


la 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
leged  by  Pope  Leo  IX  to  sit  among  the  Benedictine 
prelates   in    general    councils    next    to   the   abbot    of 
Monte  Cassino. 

As  I  have  said,  it  was  undoubtedly  the  presence  of 
the  illustrious  and  sainted  dead  which  gave  such  re- 
nown to  the  abbey,  and  in  particular  it  was  the  shrine 
of  St  Augustine  which  attracted  crowds  of  pilgrims 
to  the  church  from  the  earliest  times  of  English 
Christianity  until  the  martyrdom  of  St  Thomas  in  the 
neighbouring  church  diverted  the  stream  of  devotion 
to  the  cathedral.  Indeed  the  list  of  the  dead  who  slept 
the  sleep  of  the  just  at  St  Augustine's  is  most  re- 
markable and  makes  us  all  the  more  regret  that  in  the 
sixteenth  century  no  greater  respect  was  paid  to  the 
tombs  and  remains  of  kings  and  queens  than  to  the 
relics  of  the  saints.  Here  are  the  names  of  some  few 
whose  tombs  were  then  ruthlessly  destroyed  and  their 
remains  scattered  to  the  winds :  King  Ethelbert  and 
his  Queen  Bertha,  who,  together  with  Letard,  Bishop 
of  Soissons  and  chaplain  of  the  Queen,  rested  in  the 
portico  of  St  Martin's ;  the  bodies  of  King  Eadbald 
and  Emma  his  Queen  were  in  the  porch  of  St  Cathe- 
rine's, where  also  were  the  tombs  of  King  Ercombert 
and  Lothaire  with  the  latter's  daughter  Mildred,  and 
two  other  kings ;  Archbishops  Augustine,  Laurence, 
Mellitus,  Justus,  Honorius  and  Deusdedit  were  in  the 
porch  of  the  church  ;  Archbishops  Theodore,  Brith- 
wald,  Tatwin  and  Nothelm  in  the  church  itself. 

The  centre  of  devotion  at  St  Augustine's  was,  as  I 

4 


GATEWAY,    SI".    AUGUSTINE  S    ABBEY,    CANTERBURY 


St  Augustine  s^  Canterbury 
have  said,  naturally  the  shrine  of  St  Augustine  himself, 
the  apostle  of  our  race.  A  picture  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, copied  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon  from  a  manu- 
script in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  shows  roughly 
the  disposition  of  the  altar  at  St  Augustine's,  with 
the  bodies  of  saints  and  other  relics  surrounding  it. 
Two  doors,  one  on  either  side  of  the  Great  Altar,  led 
into  the  feretory  where  most  of  the  relics  were  placed. 
At  the  most  easternly  end  over  an  altar  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity  in  1240  rested  the  shrine  containing 
the  body  of  St  Augustine,  and  on  the  right  of  this 
were  three  other  shrines  with  the  bodies  of  St  Lau- 
rence, St  Justus  and  St  Deusdedit,  whilst  on  the  left 
were  similarly  disposed  those  of  St  Mellitus,  St  Honor- 
ius  and  St  Theodore.  Two  semicircular  chapels,  one 
on  either  side,  contained  on  the  right  the  body  of  St 
Mildred  with  an  altar  dedicated  in  1 270, and  on  the  left 
an  altar  to  SS.  Stephen,  Laurence  and  Vincent,  with  the 
shrine  containing  the  relics  of  St  Adrian  the  Abbot, 
and  companion  of  St  Theodore.  In  the  space  between 
these  chapels  and  the  back  of  the  High  Altar  were 
arranged  the  shrines  of  St  Nothelm  and  St  Lombert 
on  the  one  side,  and  those  of  St  Brithwald  and  St 
Tatwin  on  the  other. 

The  High  Altar  was  dedicated  in  a.d.  1325  to  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul,  St  Augustine,  the  apostle  of  the 
English,  and  St  Ethelbert,  King.  Above  it  were  the 
body  of  St  Letard  and  other  relics:  on  the  altar  rested 
the  shrine  of  St  Ethelbert  and  on  either  side  were  the 

5 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

precious  books  which,  according  to  tradition,  Pope 
St  Gregory  had  sent  over  to  England  by  St  Augustine. 
These  books  were  appropriately  called  by  Elmham, 
the  chronicler  of  the  abbey,  primitice  librorum  ecclesia 
zAnglicance — the  first  books  of  the  English  Church. 
That  St  Gregory  the  Great  did  send  over  many  manu- 
scripts to  England  by  St  Augustine  or  his  followers  we 
know  from  St  Bede,  whose  information  was  obtained 
from  the  eighth  Abbot  of  St  Augustine's.  Although 
no  doubt  many  of  these  valuable  volumes  must  have 
perished  in  the  fire  which  partially  wrecked  the  abbey 
in  1168,  Thorne,  in  relating  the  catastrophe  in  his 
chronicle,  is  satisfied  that  his  monastery  still  possessed 
at  least  some  of  these  precious  books,  a  tradition  which 
was  handed  down  by  Leland  on  the  eve  of  the  dissolu- 
tion. At  the  present  day  it  is  believed  by  many  that 
the  Gospel  Book  in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge, 
and  the  celebrated  Psalter,  Vespasian  A.  I.,  in  the 
British  Museum,  are  two  of  the  volumes  originally 
placed  over  the  altar  in  St  Augustine's  abbey  church 
as  being  among  the  "Gregorian  books"  sent  by  the 
Pope  to  England  on  its  conversion  to  the  Faith.  Others, 
it  is  right  to  add,  consider  that  they  are  only  copies 
of  these  volumes. 

I  have  said  that  the  long  history  of  this  Benedictine 
abbey  was,  on  the  whole,  uneventful.  This  may  be 
taken  to  mean  that  there  were  few  incidents  to  inter- 
fere with  the  even  course  of  the  life  lived  in  the  cloi- 
ster and  devoted  to  the  works  of  religion.  "Happy  the 

6 


aSV  Augustine  s^  Canterbury 
nation  that  has  no  history"  is,  perhaps,  more  true  of 
a  religious  community  such  as  that  of  St  Augustine's, 
outside  the  walls  of  Canterbury,  than  of  a  people.  It 
had  its  difficulties,  of  course,  and  there  was  at  times 
considerable  friction  with  the  archbishops  as  to  the 
right  of  giving  the  abbatial  blessing  and  of  demanding 
an  oath  of  obedience.  Its  Benedictine  brethren  in  the 
neighbouring  Priory  of  Christ  Church  were  not  always 
on  the  best  of  terms  with  it.  But  these  diffisrences  did 
not  last  long,  at  least  not  long  in  the  whole  course  of  its 
life,  and  from  the  facts  as  they  are  stated  it  would 
seem  that  in  all  these — shall  we  call  them  contests  ? — 
St  Augustine's  was  only  claiming  and  clinging  to  its 
rights  and  privileges,  as  every  corporation  is  bound  to  do. 
John  Sturvey,  otherwise  known  as  John  Essex,  was 
the  last  abbot  of  St  Augustine's,  and  in  July  1538, 
coerced  by  Dr  Layton  the  King's  Commissioner,  he 
resigned  his  office  and  the  property  of  the  abbey  into 
the  King's  hands.  It  has  commonly  been  thought  that 
when  the  end  came  a  dark  shadow  rested  over  the  good 
name  of  the  house.  In  the  later  centuries  that  preceded 
its  destruction  St  Augustine's  was  naturally  somewhat 
overshadowed  by  its  great  monastic  neighbour  of  Christ 
Church,  which,  as  the  See  of  the  Metropolitan,  occupied 
the  first  place  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  monas- 
tery was  not  known  in  any  way  to  have  moved  with 
the  times:  it  had  no  particular  reputation  for  learning, 
nor  special  usefulness,  nor  work,  at  a  time  when  men's 
minds  generally  were  being  stirred  by  the  revival  of 

7 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
letters.  Besides  this  negatively  bad  character,  positive 
chari^es   of  the   most   odious   kind   were  formulated 
by  the  visitors  of  Henry  against  the  last  abbot,  John 
Essex,  and  some  at  least  of  his  monks.  Probably  there 
are  few  in  these  days  who  are  willing  to  believe  such 
charo-es  made  by  such  witnesses  without  some  evidence 
other  than  the  word  of  the  discredited  and  interested 
royal  agents.  Luckily,  in  the  case  of  the  last  abbot  and 
one  of  his  monks,  against  whom  the  most  revolting 
suf^gestions  had  been  made,  we  have  the  assertion  of 
one  who  knew  them  well  that  they  were  men  of  up- 
right character  and  exceptional  culture.  The  conver- 
sation in  which  this  testimony  is  given  is  supposed  to 
have  taken  place  in  the  country  house  to  which  John 
Essex,  or  Vokes  as  he  is  called,  the  last  abbot,  had  re- 
tired, and  the  other  two  taking  part  in  it  are  John 
Dygon,  the  last  prior  of  the  house,  and  Dr  Nicholas 
Wotton,  who,  becoming  first  Dean  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Christ  Church  upon  the  expulsion  of  the  monks,  was 
considered  to  be  one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  of  his 
time.  Though  the  conversation  was  imaginary,  John 
Twyne,  the  antiquary,  who  composed  it,  declares  that 
not  only  were  the  characters  capable  in  life  of  sustain- 
ing the  roles  he  set  them,  but  that  frequently  in  reality 
he  had  heard  similar  discussions  carried  on  between 
them.  He  adds,  and  this  is  much  to  the  point,  "Above 
all  the    many  people  whom  I  have  ever  known   I 
have  especially  revered  two,  because  in  these  days  they 
were  above  all  others  remarkable  for  the  high  character 


St  Augustine  s^  Canterbury 
of  their  moral  lives  and  for  their  excellent  knowledge 
of  all  antiquity.  These  were  John  Vokes  and  John 
Dygon.  The  first  was  the  most  worthy  abbot,  the 
second  the  most  upright  prior  of  the  ancient  monas- 
tery of  St  Augustine — and  the  abbot  was  a  hale  old 
man  of  the  highest  personal  sanctity  of  life."  In  this 
book,  therefore,  in  place  of  the  abbot  being  a  man 
given  up  to  odious  vice,  we  find  a  cultured,  cultivated, 
courteous  Christian  gentleman,  worthy,  as  Nicholas 
Wotton  declares,  "of  all  reverence  and  respect."  We 
see  him  as  the  friend  of  every  kind  of  learning  and  ready 
to  encourage  it  in  others:  we  see  him  as  an  antiquary, 
to  whose  well-stored  mind  men  were  only  too  willing  to 
appeal  for  information:  one  who  could  understand 
what  a  loss  to  scholarship  the  destruction  of  the  Can- 
terbury libraries  had  been,  and  one  who  on  the  very 
eve  of  the  destruction  of  his  house  was  in  communi- 
cation with  learned  men  in  Rome  to  procure  some 
early  prints  of  the  classics  for  the  library  of  St  Augus- 
tine's Abbey. 


CHAPTER  ir 

St  Albans 

ON  the  great  north  road,  the  Watling  Street 
of  Roman  times,  and  at  the  first  stage  out  of 
London,  as  it  was  accounted  in  pre-railway 
days,  stands  the  town  of  St  Albans.  Towering  above 
the  other  buildings  of  the  place  rise  what  Ruskin  some- 
where calls  the  "great  cliff  walls"  of  the  old  abbey 
church.  Looked  at  from  any  point  of  view — from  the 
poor  cress-grown  little  river  Ver,  or  from  the  rising 
ground  to  the  south,  or  from  the  crumbling  walls  of 
Roman  Verulam — this  great  church  stands  out  from 
the  rest  of  the  surroundings  as  an  object  not  easily  to 
be  forgotten.  In  some  ways  it  is  unlike  any  other 
building  in  England;  the  long  straight  ridge  of  the 
roof,  the  longest  of  any  English  church,  is  a  fitting 
cresting  to  the  cliffs  of  walls;  the  solid  and  almost 
sternly  simple  charafter  of  the  transepts,  especially  as 
they  appeared  before  the  hand  of  the  so-called  restorer 
was  heavy  upon  them,  are  fit  supports  for  the  low, 
square  central  tower  which  crowns  the  vast  buildings 
spreading  out  below  it.  From  any  point  of  view  the 
church  is  truly  stupendous!  But  to  those  who  know 
its  history  there  is  something  sad  and  melancholy 
about  the  solitary  pile,  as  it  stands  now  a  silent  and 

lO 


St  Albans 

majestic  monument  of  what  St  Albans  once  was  in  the 
days  of  its  glory.  Its  walls  once  looked  down  upon  a 
vast  assemblage  of  buildings  of  which  it  was  the  centre; 
towers  and  gables,  courtyards  and  cloisters;  kitchens 
and  guest-houses,  stables  and  offices  stretched  out  far 
over  the  space  to  the  south  and  west,  a  veritable  town 
of  conventual  buildings.  All  these  have  vanished,  alas! 
and  to-day  there  remains  of  them  only  the  broken  and 
defaced  ruins  of  the  old  gatehouse;  even  the  glorious 
church  itself  was  saved,  in  the  rapacious  days  of 
Henry  VIII,  from  becoming  the  common  quarry  of 
the  neighbourhood,  by  the  timely  purchase  of  its  de- 
secrated walls  for  £400  by  the  people  of  the  township. 
The  story  of  St  Albans  goes  back  to  the  close  of 
the  eighth  century.  About  that  time  Offa,  king  of  the 
Mercians,  in  recognition  of  his  sins  and  in  particular 
in  expiation  for  the  murder  of  Ethelbert,  king  of  East 
Anglia,  vowed  to  build  a  monastery  for  a  hundred 
monks.  He  chose  the  spot  upon  which,  in  40 1 ,  St  Lupus 
of  Troyes  had  erected  a  church  over  the  relics  of 
St  Alban,  the  protomartyr  of  Britain,  who  had  suffisred 
death  in  a.d.  304,  during  the  Diocletian  persecution. 
These  relics  were  translated  by  Offa  to  his  new  founda- 
tion in  793,  and  in  this  way  was  begun  the  great 
Benedictine  house  of  St  Albans,  which  from  the  first 
was  enriched  by  the  gifts  of  the  English  kings  and  by 
spiritual  privileges  accorded  by  Pope  Adrian  I  and  his 
successors.  In  the  year  930  the  Abbey  was  attacked 
by  the  Danes  and  plundered.  The  relics  of  its  patron. 


II 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
St  Alban,  were  carried  off  to  Denmark;  but  subse- 
quently, through  a  clever  ruse  of  the  sacristan  of  the 
abbey,  who  was  inconsolable  for  the  loss,  they  were 
recovered  by  the  monks,  and  "  Master  John  of  St  Al- 
bans, the  incomparable  Goldsmith,"  as  the  chronicler 
calls  him,  "made  the  first  shrine  for  the  relics." 

The  mention  of  the  shrine  suggests  some  brief 
account  of  the  subsequent  history  of  this  work  of  art. 
The  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  was  a  time  most 
remarkable  at  St  Albans  for  the  perfection  of  its  metal 
work.  A  renowned  goldsmith,  by  name  Anketil,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  chief  artificers  in  precious  metals 
at  the  Court  of  Denmark  and  the  designer  of  the 
coins  of  that  kingdom,  returned  to  England  and  be- 
came a  monk  of  St  Albans.  Geoffrey,  the  sixteenth 
abbot  of  the  monastery,  who  ruled  the  house  from 
A.D.  1 1 19  to  1 146,  was  not  slow  to  recognize  the  im- 
portance of  making  use  of  his  exceptional  talents  in 
restoring  the  shrine  for  the  relics  of  the  patron  Saint. 
Leofric,  the  tenth  abbot,  during  a  famine,  had  sold  the 
treasures  of  the  church  to  feed  the  poor,  "  retaining 
only  certain  precious  gems  for  which  he  could  find 
no  purchaser,  and  some  most  wonderfully  carved  stones, 
commonly  called  cameos^  the  greater  part  of  which 
were  reserved  to  ornament  the  shrine  when  it  should 
be  made."  So  in  1 1 24  the  great  work  was  begun.  And, 
says  the  chronicler,  "it  happened  that  by  the  labour 
of  Dom  Anketil  the  work  prospered  and  grew  so  as 
to  claim  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  it."  The  chief 

12 


aSV  Alba7is 

part  of  the  shrine  proper  was  apparently  what  would 
to-day  be  called  repousse  work,  and  the  figures  that 
the  goldsmith  monk  hammered  out  in  the  golden 
plates  were  made  solid  by  cement  poured  into  the 
hollows  at  the  back. 

Here,  for  a  time,  the  work  was  delayed,  and  the 
metal  cresting  which  had  been  designed  to  crown  the 
whole  was  left  till  more  prosperous  times.  But  to  enrich 
the  work  somewhat  more,  if  possible,  the  antiques 
called  sardios  oniclios,  which,  as  the  chronicle  says, 
are  "vulgarly  cameos,"  were  brought  out  of  the  trea- 
sury and  fitted  into  the  gold  work.  To  this  resting 
place  the  relics  of  the  Saint  were  translated  on  August 
2,  1 1 29.  Not  long  after,  however,  the  poor  of  the 
neighbourhood  were  again  afflifted  with  great  scarcity, 
and  the  abbot  to  relieve  their  necessities  had  to  strip 
away  from  the  shrine  much  of  the  gold-worked  plates 
and  turn  the  precious  metal  into  money.  After  a  few 
succeeding  years  of  prosperity,  however.  Abbot  Geoffrey 
was  again  enabled  to  restore  "the  shrine  with  silver 
and  gold  and  gems  more  precious  than  before." 

The  same  abbot  employed  Dom  Anketil,  the  metal- 
working  artist,  to  fashion  a  wonderful  chalice  and  paten 
of  gold  as  a  present  to  Pope  Celestine.  The  account 
we  have  also  of  the  wonderful  vestments  with  which 
he  enriched  the  Sacristy  proves  that  this  first  half  of 
the  twelfth  century  was  an  age  of  great  artistic  work 
at  St  Albans.  We  read  of  copes,  for  instance,  in  sets 
of  sevens   and  fours,  of  chasubles  and   dalmatics,  of 

13 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
worked  albs  and  of  dorsals,  all  thickly  woven  with 
gold  and  studded  with  jewels.  So  rich,  indeed,  were 
they  that,  alas!  they  tempted  Abbot  Geoffrey's  suc- 
cessor in  a  time  of  straitness  by  the  very  wealth  of 
their  material,  and  they  were  burnt  to  ashes  to  recover 
the  metal  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  golden  cloth, 
or  laid  as  more  solid  ornaments  on  to  the  finished 
material. 

In  speaking  of  the  "shrine"  of  St  Albans  we  have 
been  carried  somewhat  too  quickly  over  the  general 
story  of  the  abbey.  As  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  other 
Saxon  houses,  St  Albans  suffered  by  the  coming  of  the 
Norman  Conqueror.  Abbot  Frederick,  who  was  a  re- 
lation of  King  Canute,  began  his  rule  only  in  1066, 
the  year  of  the  battle  of  Hastings.  His  sympathies  were 
with  his  countrymen,  and  in  order  to  impede  William's 
march  to  Berkhampstede,  he  caused  the  trees  which 
grew  along  the  roadside  to  be  felled  across  it.  At  Berk- 
hampstede, too,  he  obtained  from  the  Conqueror  the 
promise  to  respeft  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  in 
particular  those  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  Then,  fear- 
ing the  King's  vengeance,  he  fled  to  Ely,  where  in  a 
brief  time  he  died. 

Frederick's  death  opened  the  way  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Norman  Superior,  and  after  keeping  the 
abbatial  office  vacant  for  a  time,  William  appointed 
Paul,  a  monk  of  Caen  and  a  nephew  of  Archbishop 
Lanfranc,  to  the  office.  Here,  for  a  time,  as  in  other 
places,  the  English  monks  had  to  submit  to  foreign 


aSV  Albans 

customs  and  to  witness  the  negle6l  of  the  cultus  of  the 
old  Saxon  saints,  and  the  introduction  of  that  to  which 
their  conquerors  had  been  accustomed.  Thus  the  Bee 
customal  was  enforced  at  St  Albans,  and  the  gift  of 
eight  psalters  to  the  choir  by  Abbot  Paul  in  1085  seems 
to  suggest  that  the  old  version  of  the  psalms  used  in 
England  was  at  this  time  changed  from  the  French  or 
"Gallican"  recension. 

This  Abbot  Paul,  however,  began  the  ereftion  of  the 
great  church,  portions  of  which  still  remain  as  his 
lasting  monument,  and  which  recall  the  similar  and 
contemporary  building  in  his  native  city  of  Caen.  The 
six  eastern  bays  on  the  north,  together  with  some  of 
the  outer  walling  work,  are  mere  remnants  of  this  early 
building.  Abbot  Paul  did  not  live  to  see  the  comple- 
tion of  his  great  work,  but  died  in  1097,  ^'^^  i^  "^^^ 
not  until  1 1 1  5  that  the  church  of  St  Albans  was  con- 
secrated by  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  in  the  presence 
of  King  Henry  I,  his  queen  and  the  principal  nobles 
and  ecclesiastics  of  the  kingdom.  On  this  occasion  300 
poor  people  were  entertained  in  the  court  of  the 
monastery. 

In  1 1 19  Geoffrey  de  Gorham  became  abbot,  and 
the  story  of  his  connexion  with  the  abbey  is  curious 
and  interesting.  He  had  come  originally  as  a  layman 
from  Maine  at  the  invitation  of  the  abbot  to  teach  in 
the  St  Albans  school.  Something  delayed  his  journey, 
and  on  reaching  the  place  he,  finding  the  position 
already  occupied,  went  on  to  Dunstable  to  lecture  until 

15 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
such  time  as  there  was  a  vacancy  at  St  Albans.  Whilst 
there  he  wrote  a  miracle  play  of  St  Katherine,  for  the 
performance  of  which  he  borrowed  the  abbey  choral 
copes.  The  night  after  the  representation  his  house, 
where  the  vestments  were,  was  burned  down,  and  the 
copes  were  all  destroyed  in  the  flames.  In  atonement 
he  offered  himself  as  a  monk  at  St  Albans,  and  he  was 
subsequently  chosen  as  abbot.  It  was  because  he  was 
mindful  of  the  misfortune  to  the  copes  that  in  after 
years,  as  Matthew  Paris  notes,  he  was  careful  to  provide 
rich  choir  copes  for  use  in  his  church. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  follow  the  history  of 
the  abbey  in  detail,  and  a  very  brief  summary  alone 
can  be  given.  Of  the  church  as  it  stands  a  few  words 
only  may  be  allowed.  As  I  have  said,  the  six  eastern 
bays  on  the  north  side  are  Norman,  the  rest  date  from 
1214-35.  On  the  south  side  the  five  western  bays 
are  of  the  same  date,  the  rest  was  begun  by  Abbot 
Eversdon  in  decorated  work  about  1323  and  raised  by 
1326  to  the  triforium.  This  building  was  necessitated 
by  the  collapse  of  a  great  portion  of  the  church,  and  the 
fall  of  many  of  the  pillars  during  the  singing  of  Mass 
in  the  first-named  year.  Its  reparation  was  continued 
by  Abbot  Mentmore,  the  successor  of  Richard  de  Wal- 
lingford,  known  to  posterity  for  the  construftion  of  a 
celebrated  astronomical  clock,  representations  of  which 
are  to  be  found  in  some  of  the  St  Albans  books  in  the 
British  Museum. 

Michael  de  Mentmore  constructed  the  ceiling  of 

16 


St  Alban$ 
the  south  aisle  of  the  church,  which  had  been  newly 
built,  together  with  the  cloister.  He  also  furnished  the 
convent  with  books  and  vestments.  In  1341  he  was 
called  upon  to  baptize  Edmund,  the  fifth  son  of  King 
Edward  III.  He  died  in  1349,  the  year  of  the  great 
pestilence,  or  Black  Death  as  it  is  now  called;  and  with 
him  at  that  calamitous  time  died  the  prior,  sub-prior 
and  forty-seven  of  the  brethren  of  St  Albans. 

The  original  rood  screen  erefted  in  1360  has  on 
either  side  of  the  rood-altar  door  which  opened  into  a 
choir  entry,  a  passage  being  left  between  the  stalls  and  the 
screen.  The  choir  projected  three  bays  into  the  nave,  and 
the  presbytery  had  three  bays  in  length.  The  great  rere- 
dos  built  at  a  cost  of  i ,  1 00  marks  by  Abbot  Wallingford 
(1476-94),  has  two  doors  opening  into  the  feretory  for 
processional  and  other  liturgical  purposes.  The  story 
goes  that  the  screen  was  suggested  by  that  of  Win- 
chester, returning  from  the  dedication  of  which  the 
St  Albans  monks  with  their  abbot  determined  to 
ere6l  one  somewhat  similar.  The  staircase  to  the  monks' 
dormitory  is  in  the  south-west  angle  of  the  south-west 
transept;  at  the  level  of  the  cloister-roof  it  communi- 
cated with  a  passage  leading  to  a  watch ing-loft,  still 
remaining  in  the  west  wall.  It  was  opposite  to  this  that 
once  stood  the  great  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  before 
which,  as  the  chronicle  tells  us,  stood  a  taper  wreathed 
with  flowers. 

In  the  feretory  may  still  be  seen  a  watching  chamber 
or  loft  erected  in  1430,  and  the  mutilated  remains  of 

17  2 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  base  of  St  Albans  shrine  in  Purbeck  marble  with 
quatrefoiled  apertures,  below  canopied  niches  for  figures. 
It  is  of  fourteenth-century  work,  and  is  carved  with 
the  crucifix,  with  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St  John,  and 
with  the  afts  of  the  Saint.  Upon  this  base  stood  the 
wonderful  shrine  in  precious  metal  and  its  almost  equally 
wonderful  cover.  This  last  was  made  by  "that  most 
renowned  artificer,"  and  he  is  called,  "  Master  John  the 
Goldsmith."  "  In  a  few  years,"  writes  the  chronicler, 
"this  laborious,  sumptuous,  and  most  artistic  work  was 
happily  accomplished ;  and  he  [i.e. ,  Abbot  Simon]  placed 
it  in  its  present  elevated  position,  that  is  above  the  High 
Altar  facing  the  celebrant,  so  that  every  priest  ofi^ering 
Mass  upon  the  altar  may  have  both  in  sight  and  in 
heart  the  memory  of  the  martyr,  since  visible  to  the 
eye  of  the  celebrant  was  represented  the  martyrdom 
or  decapitation."  On  the  western  end  of  the  shrine,  in 
well-raised  metal  work  and  surrounded  by  gems  and 
precious  golden  knobs,  the  artist  enthroned  an  image 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  holding  her  Son  to  her  breast 
and  seated  on  a  throne.  Above  this  structure  again  rose 
the  roof  of  this  feretory,  and  at  its  four  angles  were 
placed  "windowed  turrets,"  surrounded  with  what  the 
writer  calls  "four  lovely  crystal  domes  with  their  mar- 
vels." Under  this  was  the  precious  shrine  itself  which 
had  been  enriched  by  a  succession  of  abbots  with  the 
most  precious  jewels.  On  the  top  of  the  cresting  sat  an 
eagle  in  silver  gilt  with  its  wings  outspread,  which 
Abbot  de  la  Mare  had  made  in  the  fourteenth  century 

|8 


&3i.l 


St  Albans 
at  the  cost  of  ^20 — some  ^400  of  our  money.  Besides 
this  golden  eagle  fixed  on  the  cresting  of  the  shrine 
were  "two  suns"  of  pure  gold,  the  long  rays  of  which 
were  of  silver  gilt  and  on  the  tip  of  each  was  set  some 
precious  stone. 

Lastly,  Abbot  Whethamstede  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury presented  to  the  altar  of  the  Saint,  which  stood  at 
the  western  end  ofthe  shrine,  a /^^«/^  in  solid  silver.  It  was 
apparently  a  wonderful  example  of  English  goldsmith 
work,  and  was  of  beaten  metal  fully  gilt.  As  the  chronicle 
says:  "There  is  not  thought  to  be  another  more  grand 
and  sumptuous  in  the  whole  of  this  kingdom."  Let 
us  try  and  imagine  the  effed  of  this  wonderful  work 
of  art,  no  vestige  of  which  now  remains.  Jewels  of  all 
kinds,  gems,  cameos,  and  all  manner  of  precious  stones 
thickly  studded  the  framework  of  the  marvellous  re- 
pousse pictures,  and  sparkled  in  the  light  of  the  tapers 
ever  burning  round  the  shrine.  On  the  cresting  of  the 
high-pitched  roof  perched  the  eagle  with  its  over- 
shadowing wings,  and  on  either  side  were  the  golden 
suns  with  their  jewelled  rays!  Such  was  the  shrine  it- 
self, which  thrice  in  a  year,  upon  Ascension  day  and 
on  the  two  festivals  of  St  Alban,  was  taken  from  its 
pedestal  and  borne  in  procession  by  four  priests  in  copes, 
and  on  these  occasions  it  was  wont  to  be  covered  by  the 
rich  cloth  of  woven  gold  presented  for  that  purpose  by 
Thomas  Woodstock,  Duke  of  Gloucester. 

In  speaking  of  St  Albans,  it  is  impossible  not  to  men- 
tion the  scriptorium  and  library  of  the  Abbey.  The  Gesta 

J9  la 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

Abbatum  says  that  the  nineteenth  abbot  did  much  to 
attract  learned  men  to  the  cloister.  He  was  a  great  book 
collector,  and  to  him  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  the 
school  of  St  Albans  chroniclers,  to  whom  we  owe  so 
much  of  our  knowledge  of  English  history.  The  names 
of  Matthew  Paris  and  Walsingham  alone  are  sufficient  to 
claim  the  gratitude  of  all  generations  for  the  work  of  the 
St  Albans  historical  writers,  whilst  the  volumes  of  the 
St  Albans  chroniclers  testify  to  the  honesty  with  which 
they  set  down  their  annals  and  to  their  true  historical 
methods. 

It  must  be  added  that  St  Albans  obtained  from  the 
Pope  the  rank  of  premier  abbey  among  English  Bene- 
dictine houses.  The  Pope  who  granted  this  privilege. 
Pope  Adrian  IV,  had  in  his  youth  been  connected 
with  the  monastery:  his  father  had  become  a  monk, 
and  the  son,  then  a  youth,  requested  to  be  allowed  to 
follow  his  parent's  example.  He  failed,  however,  to 
satisfy  those  who  were  appointed  to  examine  him  as 
to  the  sufficiency  of  his  learning,  and  he  was  rejected. 
He  subsequently  studied  in  Paris,  and  finally  became 
Cardinal  and  Pope. 

Situated  so  near  the  capital  and  on  a  much  frequented 
road,  the  Abbey  of  St  Albans  underwent  many  vicissi- 
tudes in  the  troubles  which  at  various  times  afflicted 
the  country.  It  suffered  much  at  the  close  of  the  four- 
teenth century  in  the  labour  troubles  from  the  demands 
of  its  tenants,  and,  judged  by  our  standards,  the  abbots 
were  not  always  too  wise  in  repressing  what  seems  to 
us  the  legitimate  aspiration  of  their  dependents.  Its 

20 


aSV  Alha7ts 
peculiar  position  in  the  ecclesiastical  world  brought 
with  it  many  misunderstandings  and  not  a  few  serious 
quarrels.  During  the  civil  war  of  the  fifteenth  century 
its  sympathies  were  engaged  on  the  one  side  too  much 
for  its  peace.  On  the  whole  it  would  appear  to  have 
been  governed  wisely  and  well,  although  a  letter  written 
by  Cardinal  Morton  towards  the  close  of  its  long  his- 
tory seems  to  suggest  that  there  were  serious  and  even 
scandalous  matters  to  redress.  The  fact,  however,  that 
as  the  result  of  the  inquiry  the  superior  remained  un- 
changed, would  seem  to  show  that  the  reports,  which 
may  have  been  in  part  at  least  political,  were  found  to 
be  devoid  of  truth.  At  any  rate  it  is  obviously  unjust 
to  condemn  any  house  or  individual  on  mere  rumour 
alone. 

Before  the  close  of  the  history  of  St  Albans  the  art 
of  printing  was  introduced  and  seems  to  have  been 
practised  from  1480  in  the  monastery.  On  the  death 
of  Abbot  Ramridge,  Cardinal  Wolsey  obtained  leave 
from  the  King  to  hold  the  abbacy  of  St  Albans  in 
commendam — the  first  and,  luckily,  almost  the  only 
instance  of  the  pernicious  practice  in  England.  On 
his  death,  however,  in  1530,  the  monks  were  allowed 
to  make  choice  of  a  superior  in  the  person  of  Robert 
Caton,  prior  of  Norwich.  On  his  death  in  1538  the 
prior  of  the  house,  Richard  Boreman  or  Stevenage, 
was  chosen  to  fill  his  place.  And  as  he  surrendered  his 
house  to  the  King,  it  has  usually  been  supposed  that 
his  appointment  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  handing 
over  his  charge  to  his  royal  master. 


z\ 


CHAPTER  III 

Battle  Abbey 

BATTLE  ABBEY  was  founded  by  William  the 
Conqueror  to  commemorate  the  battle  of  Has- 
tings and  to  fulfil  his  vow  to  ereft  such  a  monas- 
tery should  he  obtain  the  victory  in  that  decisive  fight. 
The  foundation  was  dedicated  to  St  Martin,  and  the 
building  was  placed  upon  the  rising  ground  which  looks 
down  upon  the  rolling  valleys  which  slope  southwards 
towards  the  bay  of  Hastings.  It  occupies  the  classic 
site  of  Senlac,  where  the  last  stand  was  made  by  the 
English  under  Harold,  on  the  memorable  day  of  the 
battle  of  Hastings,  October  14,  1066.  In  consequence 
of  his  vow  William  began  to  build  the  abbey  a  year 
after  the  fight,  and  William  of  Malmesbury  records 
the  tradition  that  the  High  Altar  was  placed  on  the 
very  spot  where  Harold  fell,  and  where  the  English 
royal  standard  was  found  after  the  battle.  Mr  Gough, 
the  eminent  English  antiquary,  writing  in  1789,  says: 
"This  spot  is  just  at  the  eastern  white  gate  of  the  yard 
wall:  the  foundations  were  not  long  since  removed,  the 
site  having  served  as  a  burial  place  for  Catholics." 

It  is  said  that  amongst  those  who  heard  William's 
vow  on  the  night  before  Hastings  was  a  monk  named 
William  Faber.  He  had  formerly  been  in  the  Con- 


22 


Battle  Abbey 

queror's  service,  but  had  renounced  the  profession  of 
arms  to  become  a  religious  at  the  abbey  of  Marmou- 
tier.  When  the  descent  of  the  Duke  upon  England 
was  determined  upon,  the  monk,  William,  joined  the 
army  as  a  chaplain  and,  on  hearing  the  vow  before  the 
battle,  proposed  that,  in  the  event  of  the  abbey  being 
built,  it  should  be  dedicated  to  St  Martin,  the  patron 
of  his  monastery  of  Marmoutier,  this  William  at  once 
promised  should  be  done. 

According  to  the  Conqueror's  original  design  "the 
monastery  of  St  Martin  of  Battle"  was  intended  to 
serve  for  140  monks,  although  in  fact  provision  was 
ultimately  made  for  sixty  only.  The  Abbey  of  Mar- 
moutier in  Normandy  furnished  the  religious,  who 
were,  of  course,  Benedictines.  A  monk  named  Blancard 
was  destined  to  be  the  first  abbot  of  the  new  founda- 
tion, but  after  going  back  to  his  monastery  to  make 
some  necessary  arrangements  on  taking  up  his  office, 
he  was  drowned  whilst  crossing  back  to  England.  An- 
other monk  of  Marmoutier,  named  Gausbert,  was 
thereupon  appointed  in  1076. 

King  William  did  not  live  to  see  the  completion  of 
his  work,  for  although  the  church  was  really  begun  in 
1076  it  was  not  entirely  finished  until  1095.  When 
completed,  it  measured  315  feet  in  length,  and  the 
chronicler  relates  that  the  Conqueror  had  intended  to 
make  it  500  feet.  According  to  the  legend.  King  William 
dreamt  that  he  was  to  build  a  church  the  length  of 
which  in  feet  should  equal  in   number  the  years  his 

23 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

descendants  were  to  rule  in  England.  Thrice  in  his 
dream  he  essayed  to  set  the  foundations  east  and  west 
500  feet  apart,  but  each  time  the  length  measured 
only  3 1  5  feet,  and  in  consequence  the  length  of  the 
church  was  determined  at  this  measure. 

When  William  the  Conqueror  lay  dying  at  Rouen, 
he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  abbey  he  had  raised  in 
England  to  commemorate  his  conquest.  He  charged 
his  son  William  that,  on  his  return  to  take  the  crown 
which  was  to  be  his  inheritance,  he  should  add  libe- 
rally to  the  endowments  of  the  house.  He  himself, 
moreover,  gave,  says  the  chronicle,  "his  royal  pallium 
and  very  costly  gems,  as  well  as  three  hundred  amu- 
lets wrought  of  gold  and  silver,  to  many  of  which  were 
attached  chains  of  those  metals,  and  which  contained 
innumerable  relics  of  the  saints.  He  gave  likewise  a 
feretory  in  the  form  of  an  altar,  in  which  were  also 
many  relics  and  upon  which  in  his  expeditions  Mass 
was  wont  to  be  celebrated." 

There  is  a  good  deal  left  of  the  domestic  buildings 
of  Battle;  of  the  church  not  much;  a  fragment  of  the 
south-west  end  of  the  church,  the  cloister  door,  the 
south  wall  of  the  nave  and  the  crypt  of  the  Lady  Chapel 
are  all  that  remain.  Of  the  claustral  portion  what 
still  stand  are  the  buildings  on  the  west  walk  of  the 
cloister  of  nine  bays;  portions  of  the  refectory  built  in 
1275  on  the  south  side;  traces  ot  the  entrance  to  the 
chapter-house  on  the  east.  On  this  same  side  were  the 

dormitory,   154  feet  in  length,  and  other    buildings 

24 


Battle  Abbey 

including  the  calefactory  or  common  room,  60  feet  by 
37,  a  magnificent  room  with  pillars. 

The  majestic  gateway,  with  the  courthouse  and 
porter's  lodge  on  either  side,  as  well  as  the  enclosure 
wall,  built  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
are  in  excellent  preservation  to-day;  so,  too,  is  the 
guest-hall  on  the  south-west,  which  is  195  feet  long  by 
40  feet  broad,  and  is  now  divided  up  into  store  cham- 
bers, etc. 

The  first  Abbot,  Gausbert,  appointed,  as  already  re- 
lated, in  1076,  died  in  the  very  year  of  the  dedication 
of  the  church  and,  in  place  of  allowing  a  free  election 
to  the  monks,  William  Rufus,  by  the  advice  of  Anselm, 
imposed  upon  the  monastery  Henry,  the  prior  of 
Christ  Church,  Canterbury.  He  was  received  at  Battle 
on  June  1 1,  1096,  and  at  once  sent  to  his  old  monas- 
tery for  a  number  of  monks  of  that  house  to  help  him 
in  governing  Battle.  This  naturally  caused  great  dis- 
satisfaction and  led  to  many  difficulties. 

In  1 1 07,  the  abbacy  being  vacant,  King  Henry  sent 
for  a  certain  monk  of  Caen,  "renowned  for  his  piety 
and  prudence,"  Ralph  by  name,  and  appointed  him 
abbot.  He  was  already  well  known  in  England,  as  he 
had  come  over  with  Archbishop  Lanfranc  and  had 
been  for  some  time  in  the  monastery  at  Rochester. 
"Under  the  administration  of  this  venerable  man," 
says  the  chronicler,  "the  abbey  attained  such  a  pitch 
of  honour,  by  his  providence,  by  the  faithful  care  of 
the  brethren,  and  by  the  display  of  hospitality  to  all 

25 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

without  needless  delay,  that  it  became  second  to  none 
of  the  monasteries  of  England  in  regard  of  religion, 
bounty,  clemency,  charity  and  the  reputation  of  hu- 
manity." 

It  was  during  the  rule  of  this  abbot  that  a  feretory 
was  made  to  contain  the  relics  of  the  saints  given  to 
the  monastery  by  the  Conqueror  and  others  which 
they  had  since  obtained.  This  shrine  was  made  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  is  said  to  have  been  of  "very  choice 
workmanship  and  adorned  with  many  valuable  jewels." 

Under  Abbot  Ralph  the  abbey  prospered  exceed- 
ingly both  within  and  without.  Loving  the  beauty  of 
God's  house,  he  caused  the  church  to  be  roofed  with 
lead  and  completed  what  had  been  left  undone  in  the 
general  structure.  He  added  to  the  buildings  of  the 
monastery  and  decorated  it  in  a  manner  suitable  to  its 
purpose.  What  the  chronicle  says  of  him  is  too  inte- 
resting not  to  be  given  at  length.  "Although  he  con- 
tinually governed  those  who  were  under  his  authority, 
yet  he  was  himself  ever  obedient  to  the  rules  and  com- 
manded no  one  as  a  master.  He  sustained  the  infirmities 
of  others  and  made  them  strong.  His  deeds  corresponded 
with  what  he  taught:  his  example  preceded  his  pre- 
cept. He  inculcated  a  prompt  attendance  at  divine 
service  and,  supporting  his  aged  limbs  upon  his  staff,  he 
always  came  to  choir,  even  before  the  young  men.  Ever 
first  in  the  church,  he  was  uniformly  the  last  to  quit 
it.  Thus  he  was  a  pattern  of  good  works;  a  Martha  and 
a  Mary.  He  was  the  serpent  and  the  dove:  he  was  a 

26 


^^msm-:> 


Battle  Abbey 
Noah  amidst  the  waters.  Whilst  he  never  willingly 
rejected  the  raven,  he  always  gladly  received  the 
dove.  He  governed  the  clean  and  the  unclean  and  was 
a  prudent  ruler  under  all  circumstances.  .  .  .  [Whilst 
seeing  to  the  cultivation  of  the  monastic  lands]  he 
overlooked  not  the  spiritual  husbandry,  tilling  earthly 
hearts  with  the  ploughshare  of  good  doctrine  in  many 
books  which  he  wrote,  stimulating  them  thereby  to 
bear  the  fruit  of  good  works;  and  though  his  style  was 
homely,  yet  was  it  rich  in  the  way  of  morality. 

"  In  the  sparingness  of  his  food  he  was  a  Daniel;  in 
the  sufferings  of  his  body  a  Job;  in  the  bowing  of  his 
knees  a  Bartholomew,  bending  them  full  often  in  sup- 
plication, though  he  could  scarce  move  them  in  walk- 
ing. Every  day  he  recited  the  whole  Psalter  in  order, 
hardly  ceasing  in  his  genuflexions  and  his  Psalmody 
three  days  before  his  death.  Neither  his  racking  cough, 
nor  his  vomiting  of  blood,  nor  his  advanced  age,  nor 
the  attenuation  of  his  flesh  to  hardly  more  than  mere 
skin,  availed  to  daunt  this  man  nor  to  turn  him  aside 
from  any  point  of  his  elevated  piety.  But  lo  !  after  many 
agonies  and  bodily  sufferings,  when  he  was  eighty-four 
years  of  age  and  had  been  a  monk  sixty  years  and 
thirty-six  days,  and  when  he  had  been  Abbot  of  Battle 
seventeen  years  and  twenty  days,  the  great  House- 
holder summoned  him  to  the  reward  of  his  day's  penny. 
It  was  on  the  fourth  of  the  Kalends  of  September  in 
the  evening  of  the  day,  that  this  holy,  sweet,  and 
humble  father  departed.  He  was  lying  upon  his  lowly 

27 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
couch,  after  partaking  of  a  little  food,  and  had  devoutly 
blessed  several  of  the  brethren,  when  the  end  came." 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  chronicle  of  Battle 
Abbey  in  the  times  immediately  following  this  is  taken 
up  with  the  settlements  of  disputes  as  to  jurisdiction 
and  the  rights  of  bishops  over  the  abbey.  In  one  of 
these  St  Thomas  Becket  appears  as  the  King's  Chan- 
cellor in  the  great  suit  which  was  heard  before  the 
King  in  person. 

Of  one  of  these  abbots,  Odo,  the  chronicler  writes: 
"  He  was  a  pattern  of  a  holy  life  to  all  in  word  and  deed. 
Rich  in  the  bowels  of  compassion,  he  relieved  every 
one  who  sought  his  assistance.  His  hospitality  knew  no 
respeft  of  persons,  the  abbey  gates  stood  open  to  all 
comers  who  needed  either  refreshment  or  lodging.  For 
those  persons  whom  the  rule  of  the  establishment  for- 
bade to  sleep  within  the  abbey  he  provided  entertain- 
ment without  the  circuit  of  its  walls.  He  associated 
with  the  brethren  in  all  the  Divine  Office  in  the  abbey 
church,  in  reading  and  in  meditation  in  the  cloister; 
he  took  his  food  in  the  refectory,  in  short,  he  was  as 
one  of  themselves  except  that  he  did  not  sleep  in  the 
common  dormitory.  Nothing  of  pride  was  to  be  seen 
in  his  carriage,  his  a6tions  and  his  habits,  and  nothing 
that  savoured  of  levity." 

On  the  whole  the  lives  of  the  series  of  abbots,  until 
the  dissolution  of  the  monastery  in  1539,  do  not  pre- 
sent any  features  of  particular  interest  to  the  general 

reader.  The  even  tenor  of  the  regular  observance  in 

28 


Battle  Abbey 
the  monastery,  which  was  apparently  disturbed  by  no- 
thing which  merited  to  be  specially  recorded,  may  be 
taken  to  speak  well  of  men  whose  chief  duty,  accord- 
ing to  the  terms  of  their  foundation,  was  to  pray  for 
the  souls  of  those  who  had  perished  in  the  great  slaugh- 
ter when  William  I  conquered  England. 

The  last  abbot,  John  Hamond,  was  ele6led  in  1 529. 
When  Dr  Layton,  in  1536,  came  to  Battle  as  one  or 
Henry  VIII's  commissioners,  he  did  not  find  Abbot 
Hamond  as  ready  as  he  wished  to  meet  the  fate  that 
awaited  his  monastery.  He  ordered  him  to  court  to  be 
dealt  with  by  Crumwell  himself,  and  he  thus  bespeaks 
his  master's  attention  to  his  case:  "The  abbot  of  Battle 
is  the  varaste  hayne  betle  and  buserde,  and  the  arants 
chorle  that  ever  I  see.  In  all  other  places  whereat  I 
come,  specially  the  black  sort  of  develish  monks,  I  am 
sorry  to  know  as  I  do.  Surely  I  thynke  they  be  paste 
amendement  and  that  God  hath  utterly  withdrawn  his 
grace  from  them." 

Speed,  on  the  authority  of  these  visitors,  a  specimen 
of  whose  judicial  temper  is  given  above  and  whose 
testimony  no  one  now  credits,  represents  Abbot  Ha- 
mond and  several  of  his  monks  as  having  an  infa- 
mous reputation.  "This,"  says  Dugdale,  "is  hardly  re- 
concilable with  the  grant  made  to  this  abbot  of  a 
pension  at  the  dissolution,  particularly  as  the  instru- 
ment which  bestowed  the  pension  stipulated  that  it 
should  be  vacated  in  case  of  the  King  preferring  him 
to  the  cure  of  souls.  The  same  applies  also  to  the  other 

29 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
monks  of  Battle  who  were  included  in  those  secret  and 
never-inquired-into  accusations.  Moreover,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  these  charges  were  made  to  Crumwell 
before  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  1536,  which  dis- 
solved the  smaller  religious  houses  and  when,  according 
to  the  King's  positive  assertion,  made  before  the  pass- 
ing of  that  Aft,  there  was  aftual  evidence  to  show  that 
'n  the  greater  monasteries,  of  which  Battle  was  one, 
religion  was  right  well  observed  and  maintained.  Finally- 
when  three  years  later,  in  1539,  pressure  was  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  superiors  of  the  greater  houses  to  force 
them  to  yield  the  houses  into  the  King's  hands,  John 
Gage  and  Richard  Layton,  who  went  to  take  the  sur, 
render  of  Battle,  wrote  on  May  26  to  say  that  the  deed 
had  been  signed,  and  that  all  was  in  their  hands.  There 
was  then  no  need  to  blacken  the  character  of  those  who 
had  been  despoiled,  and  so  nothing  whatever  is  said 
about  these  charges  and,  on  the  contrary,  pensions  were 
granted  to  the  abbot  and  to  each  of  the  monks,  four  of 
whom  were  university  men,  with  degrees  in  theology. 


30 


CHAPTER  IV 

Beaulieu 

THE  Cistercian  Abbey  of  Beaulieu  is  pictu- 
resquely situated  in  the  New  Forest,  not  far 
from  Southampton  Water,  and  opposite  to  its 
daughter  house  of  Netley.  Founded  in  1204  by  King 
John,  it  soon  became  an  important  house  of  the  Order; 
it  sent  forth  colonies  to  Hales  and  Newenham  as  well 
as  to  Netley;  it  owned  extensive  landed  property,  and  its 
superior  was  a  mitred  abbot  with  a  seat  in  the  House 
of  Peers.  Now  only  a  few  ruins  remain  to  mark  the 
place  where  it  stood,  whilst,  as  a  curious  contrast, 
Netley  over  the  water,  its  comparatively  humble 
daughter,  stands,  as  far  at  least  as  the  church  is  con- 
cerned, almost  as  perfect  as  the  day  when  the  royal 
wreckers  of  the  sixteenth  century  left  it  to  unpro- 
tected decay. 

At  Beaulieu  the  remains  include  the  sacristy  and  a 
recess  for  a  cloister  cupboard  or  aumbry;  the  front 
of  the  chapter  house  with  an  entrance  of  three  arches; 
on  the  east  side  of  the  cloister  garth  the  common 
house;  on  the  west  two  long  buildings  standing  over 
undercrofts  285  feet  in  length  and  divided  by  a  passage 
and  a  wall  from  the  cloister.  A  range  of  seven  recesses, 
probably  for  studies,  fills  the  north  wall,  and  on   the 

31 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
south  are  the  refectory  (125  feet  by  30  feet)  and  the 
remains  of  the  lavatory.  In  the  wall  of  the  refectory  is 
a  charming  pulpit,  or  reading  place,  with  the  stairway 
leading  up  to  it.  Of  the  church  little  or  nothing  is  left, 
if  we  exclude  the  foundation  of  the  main  pillars,  which 
have  been  uncovered. 

Besides  this  there  is  the  main  gateway  still  standing, 
the  Watergate,  and  to  the  north  what  is  variously 
called  a  barn  and  a  winepress.  This  Watergate  may, 
perhaps,  suggest  some  explanation  of  why  so  much  of 
the  buildings  of  Beaulieu  have  disappeared  altogether. 
The  abbey  was  situated  on  the  Beaulieu  river,  a  water- 
way to  the  sea  which  afforded  an  excellent  opportunity 
for  barges  to  carry  off  the  stones  quarried  out  of  the 
dismantled  walls  and  convey  them  to  where  they  would 
be  useful  for  some  building  or  other.  It  used  to  be  said 
that  much  of  the  material  was  taken  to  raise  forts  for 
the  defence  of  the  coast  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
people  were  wont  to  point  to  Calshot  Castle  in  par- 
ticular, as  being  able  to  account  for  a  good  deal  of  the 
Beaulieu  Abbey  buildings  in  its  foundations. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  story  of  this  Cistercian  house. 
On  its  first  establishment  by  King  John  in  1204,  it 
was  colonized  by  Citeaux  itself.  The  royal  charter 
speaks  of  it  as  being  intended  for  thirty  monks,  but 
apparently  twenty-two  only  came  to  settle  in  the 
place  chosen,  and  which  from  its  beautiful  surround- 
ings and  royal  founder  was  at  once  called  Royal  Beau- 
lieu— tAbbatia  de  Bello-loco  Regis.  A  legend  is  connected 

32 


iJEAULiEi;   AHBi:v  :   door  oi-    the  abhi:v  chlikcii 


Beaulieu 
with  the  foundation.  It  is  said  that  King  John  treated 
the  Cistercians  in  England  in  no  better  way  than  he 
did  his  other  subjects.  On  the  occasion  of  one  spe- 
cial demand  for  a  large  subsidy  the  abbots  of  the  Order 
journeyed  to  Lincoln  to  see  the  King  in  person  and  to 
expostulate  with  him.  John  was  in  no  amiable  frame  of 
mind,  and  on  seeing  the  abbots  and  hearing  what 
their  mission  was  he  ordered  his  mounted  men  to 
ride  them  down  with  their  horses — "an  unjust,  wick- 
ed and  unheard-of  order  for  any  Christian  man  to 
give,"  says  the  chronicler.  Of  course  the  King's  servants 
refused  to  use  them  thus  and  even  took  the  abbots  to 
their  own  lodgings.  But  this  was  not  to  be  the  end  of 
the  matter:  according  to  the  writer  of  the  narrative, 
the  following  night,  when  King  John  had  retired  to 
bed,  he  saw  in  a  vision  or  dreamt  that  he  saw,  the 
Judgement  Seat  set  up  and  himself  brought  by  the 
abbots  before  it  for  condemnation.  In  the  result  these 
good  religious  men  were  ordered  by  the  judge  to 
scourge  the  King  with  whips  for  his  treatment  of  their 
Order.  Even  next  morning,  when  the  vision  and  its 
lesson  were  almost  forgotten.  King  John  seemed  to 
feel  the  result  of  his  castigation,  at  least  so  the  story 
goes,  and  he  consulted  a  friend  about  this  strange 
experience.  His  adviser  told  him  that  it  was  evidently 
a  sign  that  heaven  was  angry  at  the  way  in  which  he 
had  treated  the  Cistercian  abbots,  and  suggested  that 
he  should  make  amends  to  the  Order  by  building  them 
a  house.  He  accepted  the  advice  and  promised  to  esta- 

II  3 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
blish  a  monastery  in  the  New  Forest  at  the  place  now- 
known  as  BeauHeu. 

The  church,  of  which  nothing  but  the  foundations 
is  left,  was  355  feet  long,  with  double  choir  aisles.  It 
was  consecrated  with  great  ceremony  in  the  presence 
of  Henry  III,  ^ueen  Eleanor,  their  son  Prince  Ed- 
ward and  others,  in  1269.  ^ueen  Isabella,  wife  of  the 
founder.  King  John,  was  buried  in  the  choir  of  the 
church.  In  1471  Margaret  of  Anjou  took  refuge  in  the 
Sanctuary  at  Beaulieu,  and  in  1491  Perkin  Warbeck 
for  a  time  was  harboured  within  its  walls.  In  this  latter 
case,  however,  watch  was  kept  day  and  night  upon  the 
place  by  Lord  Daubigny,  who  surrounded  the  walls 
with  300  horsemen, and  ultimately,  seeing  escape  hope- 
less, Perkin  Warbeck  surrendered  to  them. 

In  the  list  of  abbots  are  to  be  found  the  names  of 
three  who  subsequently  became  bishops  in  England. 
These  were  Hugh,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Carlisle 
in  1 21 8  and  was  the  builder  of  the  choir  of  his  cathe- 
dral ;  Tideman  of  Winchcombe,  created  Bishop  of 
Worcester  in  1 380,  and  Thomas  Skeffington,  Bishop  of 
Bangor  in  1505,  who  built  the  tower  of  the  cathedral. 

Besides  the  daughter-houses  already  named,  Beaulieu 
established  two  cells,  one  in  Cornwall,  at  a  place  called 
Llanachebran  or  St  Keveran,  where  there  had  been  a 
house  of  secular  canons  till  the  Norman  conquest;  and 
Farringdon  in  Berkshire.  This  last-named  was  a  manor 
which  had  been  given  by  King  John  to  Citeaux  in 
1203  on  condition  that  an  abbey  of  the  Order  should 

34 


Beaulieu 

be  founded  there;  but  the  next  year,  1204,  on  the 
estabHshment  of  Beaulieu  in  Hampshire,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  donation  should  be  transferred  to  this  house, 
and  a  few  monks  of  Beaulieu  were  established  here 
under  the  ordinary  conditions  which  regulated  the 
government  of  the  cells  of  any  abbey. 

It  is  a  well-known  historical  fact  that  many  in- 
justices were  perpetrated  in  the  dissolution  of  the 
smaller  monasteries  which  had  been  granted  to  Cardi- 
nal Wolsey  to  make  his  foundations  at  Oxford  and 
Ipswich.  Amongst  others,  and  unjustly,  as  it  was  a  cell 
of  a  greater  house,  was  St  Keveran's,  Cornwall,  which 
belonged  to  Beaulieu.  The  abbot  at  the  time  was 
Thomas  Skeryngton,  who  was  also  bishop  of  Bangor, 
and  he  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  to  protest  against  the 
high-handed  proceedings  of  his  agents.  The  property, 
he  says,  had  been  given  to  the  abbey  by  Richard  Earl 
of  Cornwall  400  years  before,  and  it  had  now  been 
suddenly  seized,  and  he  who  had  taken  it  wrote  to  say 
that  "the  benefice  which  is  impropriated  to  Beaulieu 
he  mindeth  to  give  to  the  finding  of  scholars."  This 
letter  of  remonstrance  was  successful,  and  Beaulieu 
kept  St  Keveran's  as  part  of  its  possessions  till  the 
dissolution. 

In  the  early  part  of  March,  1536,  John  Browning, 
abbot  of  Beaulieu,  died,  and  Thomas  Stephens,  then 
abbot  of  Netley,  was  elected  his  successor.  This  was  no 
sooner  done  than  Netley  was  suppressed,  and  all  the 
Netley  monks  accompanied  their  abbot  to  Beaulieu. 

35  3« 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

On  April  2,  1538,  Abbot  Stephen  and  twenty  monks 
signed  their  surrender  of  Beaulieu  to  the  King.  After 
this  came  the  usual  wrecking  process.  What  precious 
plate  and  vestments  these  Cistercian  monks  possessed  is 
unknown;  all  indication  is  lost  in  the  process  of  collect- 
ing these  things  for  the  King's  use.  One  solitary  example 
from  Beaulieu  is  all  that  remains.  Amongst  the  vest- 
ments and  hangings,  etc.,  which  the  official  appointed 
to  carry  out  the  suppression  considered  worth  sending 
up  to  Henry  were  "three  altar  frontals.'* 

A  few  words  may  be  said  about  the  last  abbot.  In 
February,  1 540,  he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Bent- 
worth,  near  Alton,  vacant  by  the  deprivation  of  John 
Palmes.  It  was  not  without  considerable  difficulty  that 
"  the  abbot  quondam  of  Beaulieu  "  was  able  to  take  pos- 
session of  this  benefice.  In  1548  Thomas  Stephens  was 
collated  to  the  treasurership  of  Salisbury  Cathedral,  and 
he  died  in  1550,  holding  both  preferments. 


36 


CHAPTER  V 

Buckfast  Abbey 

ST  MARY'S  Abbey  of  Buckfast  is  beautifully  situ- 
ated in  Devonshire,  high  up  on  Dartmoor,  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  confluence  of  the  Dart  and 
the  Holy  Brook.  The  church  measured  some  250  feet, 
but  the  ravages  of  the  time  after  the  dissolution  have 
left  but  little  trace  of  the  entire  mass  of  buildings,  with 
the  exception  of  a  barn  and  a  tower.  On  the  site  of  the 
old  house  quite  recently  a  new  monastery  of  Benedictine 
monks  has  risen  up,  and  at  the  present  time  another 
church  is  being  built  upon  the  foundations  of  that  which 
was  swept  away  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Tradition,  which  would  appear  to  be  well  founded, 
places  the  establishment  of  the  abbey  in  the  eighth 
century;  and  according  to  some  there  was  here  a  Chris- 
tian British  settlement  dedicated  to  St  Petrock  at  a 
very  much  earlier  period.  When  the  light  of  written 
records,  however,  breaks  in  upon  the  story  of  the  monas- 
tery, we  are,  indeed,  in  a  very  much  later  period,  but 
with  the  abbey  already  in  existence. 

Until  comparatively  recent  times  little  was  known  of 
Buckfast  beyond  a  charter  or  two  and  a  somewhat  meagre 
list  of  abbots.  A  few  years  ago,  however,  among  a  mass  of 
waste  paper  and  parchment  bought  by  an  Exeter  mer- 

37 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
chant  from  various  sources  was  a  fragment  of  a  parch- 
ment book,  which  proved  to  be  part  of  the  Cartulary 
of  Buckfast  Abbey.  It  is,  indeed,  only  a  fragment,  but 
it  gives  much  information  as  to  the  possessions  of  the 
abbey,  the  names  of  certain  of  the  abbots  not  recorded 
elsewhere,  the  record  of  early  benefactors  and  land- 
owners, and  incidentally  some  brief  details  in  the  general 
history  of  the  monastery.  The  document  is  to  be  found 
printed  in  the  third  volume  of  Bishop  Grandisson's 
Register  (p.  1563  seqq.)  and  edited  by  Prebendary 
Hingeston-Randolph. 

The  earliest  written  record,  apparently,  states  that 
the  monastery  was  in  the  possession  of  "the  monks  of 
the  order  of  Savigny,"  that  is,  of  those  who  followed  the 
rule  of  the  house  founded  by  Blessed  Vitalis  of  Savigny 
in  1 1 1 2,  which  house,  the  mother  of  many  daughter 
monasteries,  became  identified  with  the  Cistercian 
movement.  The  Baron  of  Totnes  Castle,  a  few  miles 
away  down  the  Dart  from  Buckfast,  appears  as  one 
of  the  early  benefadlors  of  that  monastery.  He  came  to 
the  Chapter  and,  with  his  two  sons,  "assenting  with 
entire  hearts,"  he  gave  lands  to  the  Norman  monks 
from  Savigny  that  they  might  sing  daily  the  "Mary 
Mass"  for  the  welfare  of  his  own  soul  and  for  the  soul 
of  Alice  his  wife,  of  his  ancestors  and  his  posterity. 
He  reserves  to  himself  and  his  people  a  right  of  way 
to  a  ford  over  the  Dart,  when  they  should  wish  to  go 
to  market  to  Ashburton.  "The  ford,"  says  a  modern 
writer,  "  has  long  been  disused,  but  the  house  above  it 

38 


Buckfast  Abbey 
on  the  Ashburton  side,  still  bears  the  name  of"  Priesta- 
ford." 

A  charter  of  Henry  II,  witnessed  by  Archbishop 
Theobald  and  St  Thomas  Becket,when  Chancellor,  and 
confirming  all  the  privileges  and  grants  of  land,  etc.,  held 
by  the  monastery  in  the  time  of  Henry  I,  his  grand- 
father, is  the  next  piece  of  the  written  history  of  Buck- 
fast  that  has  come  down  to  us.  Then  about  the  year 
1 240  a  certain  Sir  Robert  de  Hellion  of  Ashton,  owning 
a  mansion  and  lands  called  Hosefenne,  about  a  mile  and 
a  half  from  the  abbey,  moved  possibly  by  the  austerity 
of  life  led  by  the  Cistercian  monks  of  Buckfast,  resolved 
to  give  them  some  wine  on  the  great  festivals.  For  this 
purpose  he  bestowed  this  manor  of  Hosefenne  upon  "St 
Mary  of  Buckfast,  and  the  monks  serving  God  there." 
in  acknowledgement,  the  religious  are  to  present  him 
and  his  heirs  for  ever  with  a  pound  of  wax  on  the  feast 
of  the  Assumption.  Out  of  the  revenues  of  the  manor 
the  abbot  was  to  provide  his  monks  yearly  with  sixty- 
four  gallons  of  wine,  to  be  drunk  on  the  festivals  or 
Christmas,  Candlemas,  Whit-Sunday  and  the  Assump- 
tion; that  is,  sixteen  gallons  on  each  feast  day. 

No  doubt,  had  we  more  documentary  history  for 
Buckfast,  we  should  see  that  the  life  of  the  Cistercian 
monks  in  their  seclusion  in  Dartmoor  was  one  devoted 
to  the  service  of  God  and  of  His  poor  in  the  neigh- 
bouring country.  The  very  absence  of  history  may  be 
taken  almost  as  a  proof  of  this.  It  is  the  difficulty,  the 
quarrel,  the  scandal  that  finds  its  way  into  the  public 

39 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
record,  whilst  days  and  years  of  patient  service  and 
regular  observance  are  obviously  recorded  only  in  the 
Book  of  Ages. 

The  admission  of  Philip  as  abbot,  on  May  2 1 ,  i  349, 
in  the  year  of  the  great  pestilence  and  at  a  time  v^hen 
it  was  most  rife  in  Devon,  and  when  all  round  about 
the  clergy  were  falling  victims  to  the  scourge,  suggests 
that  St  Mary's,  Buckfast,  was  not  spared,  and  that  abbot 
William  GifFord  died  of  the  mysterious  and  prevailing 
sickness.  If  so,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  was  not  the 
only  one  of  his  house  who  was  carried  off  by  it;  how 
many  vidtims  there  were  here  we  shall  never  know,  but 
probably  there  were  many.  At  the  Cistercian  house  of 
Newenham  in  the  same  county,  for  instance,  the  Re- 
gister records  that  "  in  the  time  of  this  mortality  or 
pestilence  there  died  in  this  house  twenty  monks  and 
three  lay  brothers,  and  Walter  the  abbot  and  two  monks 
only  were  left  alive  there  after  the  sickness."  And  over 
and  besides  these,  "  no  fewer  than  eighty  persons  living 
within  the  gates"  died  there. 

The  last  abbot,  Gabriel  Dunne  or  Donne,  was  ap- 
pointed only  a  very  short  time  before  the  suppression  of 
the  abbey  and  not  improbably  in  view  of  the  surrender. 
At  any  rate  the  aft  was  ratified  in  the  Chapter  House 
on  February  25,  1538,  and  Dunne  received  an  annuity 
of  ^  1 20  for  his  consent  to  the  surrender..  At  the  time  the 
number  of  the  monks  was  much  reduced  and  only 
nine  appear  upon  the  pension  list.  William  Petre,  one 
of  the  royal  commissioners  of  the  dissolution  of  the 

40 


Biickfast  Abbey 

monasteries,  received  several  manors  of  the  suppressed 
monastery  as  his  share  of  the  plunder,  and  the  site  of 
the  abbey  itself  became  the  property  of  Sir  Thomas 
Dennys,  a  large  sharer  in  the  spoils  of  the  religious 
houses.  To  prevent  the  bells  of  the  abbey  church  being 
broken  in  pieces  and  sold  for  the  price  of  the  metal, 
the  inhabitants  of  Buckfastleigh,  by  Sir  Thomas  Arundel 
the  King's  official,  paid  ^t^i  15s.  for  them. 


41 


CHAPTER  VI 

Bury  St  Edmund's 

THE  great  Abbey  of  Bury  arose  on  the  spot  to 
which  the  relics  of  St  Edmund  the  King  were 
brought  for  burial  after  his  martyrdom  by  the 
Danes  in  870.  For  some  time  the  body  lay  in  the 
old  wooden  chapel  at  Hoxne  until  its  removal,  some- 
where about  903,  to  the  spot  called  at  that  time  Beo- 
dricsworth,  but  now  known  as  St  Edmund's  Bury.  In 
946  Edmund,  son  of  Edmund  the  Elder,  granted  lands 
to  the  "keepers  of  the  body,"  consisting  of  four  priests 
and  two  deacons,  who  were,  apparently,  members  of  a 
body  of  secular  clergy.  This  college  of  secular  priests, 
as  we  may  call  it,  was  replaced  about  a.d.  1020  by 
Benedictine  monks,  brought  from  St  Bennet's,  Hulme, 
and  from  Ely  by  King  Canute.  The  chief  promoter 
of  this  change  was,  apparently,  ^Ifwin,  Bishop  of  Elm- 
ham,  who  had  formerly  been  a  member  of  the  Ely 
community.  A  monk  named  Uvius,  who  was  prior  of 
St  Bennet's,  became  the  first  abbot,  and  almost  at  once, 
by  order  of  King  Canute,  the  existing  wooden  church 
was  pulled  down  and  replaced  by  one  of  stone.  This 
was  dedicated  by  Agelnoth,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  1032. 

The  position  for  the  new  monastery  was  well  chosen. 

42 


Bury  St  Edmund^ s 

What  remains  of  the  monastic  buildings  may  now  be 
seen  on  some  low  ground,  protected  by  a  hill  covered 
by  the  houses  of  the  town  and  bounded  on  the  south 
by  some  rich  meadow  land,  bordering  the  little  river 
Linnet,  which,  flowing  eastward,  here  joins  the  river 
Lark  and  continues  its  course  together  with  it  towards 
the  Ouse  and  the  North  Sea.  At  the  confluence  of  these 
two  small  rivers  stands  a  bridge  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, with  a  curious  arrangement  for  a  wooden  passage, 
which  has  its  history.  Along  it,  in  the  days  gone  by, 
the  sick  and  infirm  were  able  to  pass  over  the  flowing 
stream  in  order  to  enjoy  the  shadow  of  the  vines  planted 
along  the  sunny  river  bank;  to  the  east,  on  the  rising 
ground,  signs  of  the  terraced  vineyard  are  still  clearly 
apparent. 

The  actual  remains  of  the  church,  once  505  feet 
in  length,  of  the  great  cloisters,  and  of  the  vast  mon- 
astic buildings  are  very  scanty.  Chief  amongst  the 
actual  existing  ruins  is  the  tower,  86  feet  high,  for- 
merly the  great  gate  of  the  cemetery.  It  stands  exactly 
opposite  to  the  spot  where  the  great  western  door  of 
the  church  was,  and  it  is  still  in  good  preservation. 
Of  the  rest  some  high  masses  of  flint  and  mortar,  from 
which  the  stone  casing  has  been  cut  away,  are  all  that 
remains  of  one  of  the  finest  establishments  in  the  land. 
Somewhat  further  to  the  north  is  the  church  of  St 
James,  built  as  a  parochial  church  by  the  monks  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  further  on  again,  there  still  stands 
the  beautiful  decorated  gateway  built  in  the  period 

43 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
from  1327-40.  Within  it  the  remains  of  the  abbot's 
house  are  not  inconsiderable,  but  of  the  extensive  west- 
ern front,  with  its  great  central  tower  and  its  two 
lower  octagonal  towers,  which  in  size  and  beauty  must 
have  rivalled  the  front  of  Ely,  nothing  whatever  is 
now  left.  When  Leland  saw  this  church  in  the  day  of 
its  magnificence,  with  two  noble  parish  churches  as 
it  were  supporting  it  and,  by  contrast,  showing  off  its 
immense  proportions,  and  with  its  six  smaller  chapels 
standing  within  the  precincts,  he  exclaimed:  "The  sun 
hath  not  shone  on  a  goodlier  abbey,  whether  a  man 
indifferently  consider  either  the  endowment  with  re- 
venues or  the  largeness  or  the  incomparable  magni- 
ficence thereof.  He  that  saw  it  would  say,  verily,  that 
it  was  a  city,  so  many  gates  are  there  in  it,  and  some 
of  brass,  and  so  many  towers  and  a  most  stately  church, 
upon  which  attend  three  others  also,  standing  glorious- 
ly in  one  and  the  same  churchyard,  all  of  passing  fine 
and  curious  workmanship." 

Such  was  the  great  abbey  in  the  day  of  its  magni- 
ficence: to  this  it  was  slowly  and  painfully  built  up 
during  the  five  hundred  years  of  its  existence.  The 
first  abbot  was  succeeded  by  Leofstan,  another  of  the 
monks  who  had  come  as  founders  from  Hulme,  and 
it  was  during  the  time  of  his  abbacy  that  Edward  the 
Confessor  visited  the  shrine  of  St  Edmund  on  more 
than  one  occasion.  At  these  times,  out  of  veneration 
for  the  saintly  King  and  martyr,  Edward  was  wont  to 
perform  the  last  mile  of  his  journey  on  foot  like  an 

44 


^^* 


Bury  St  Edmund's 
ordinary  pilgrim.  Upon  the  death  of  Leofstan  the 
favour  of  the  Confessor  procured  the  election  of  Bald- 
win, a  monk  of  St  Denis  and  his  own  physician,  and 
the  convent  had  no  reason  to  regret  their  compliance 
with  the  King's  suggestion.  Even  after  the  Conquest 
this  learned  abbot  continued  in  high  favour  with  Wil- 
liam. He  was  always  well  received  at  Court,  and  the 
King  kept  him  for  long  periods  near  his  person  as  a 
friend  and  adviser. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life  Abbot  Baldwin  saw 
that  the  church  built  by  Canute  was  hardly  adequate 
for  the  more  modern  requirements,  when  the  abbey 
had  already  grown  in  size  and  importance.  He  deter- 
mined, therefore,  to  begin  the  building  of  a  noble 
church,  and  so  quickly  did  the  work  proceed  that  he 
completed  what  was  considered  one  of  the  most  won- 
derful churches  of  its  age  in  1095.  The  same  year  the 
body  of  St  Edmund  was  translated  to  its  new  shrine 
with  great  pomp,  on  April  29,  in  the  presence  of  a 
vast  concourse  of  people.  Within  a  year  Abbot  Baldwin 
died  and,  as  William  Rufus  then  reigned  over  England, 
the  monks  were  left  for  some  time  before  they  could 
obtain  permission  to  elect  a  successor.  Even  when 
Henry  I  came  to  the  throne,  in  1 100,  the  royal  will 
imposed  upon  the  monks  as  abbot  a  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Chester,  who  had  been  a  monk  of  Evrault,  in  Nor- 
mandy. It  was  really  a  bad  case  of  the  obvious  abuse 
by  which  a  religious  superior  could  be  placed  over  a 
community  by  the  secular  power,  and  after  two  years 

45 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
this  utterly  unworthy  and  incapable  man  was  deposed 
by  St  Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A  monk  of 
Westminster  was  thereupon  chosen  by  the  reHgious,  and 
though  for  five  years  the  King  refused  to  recognize  him, 
this  time  of  contention  appears  to  have  been  both  pro- 
sperous and  useful  to  the  monastery.  The  abbot  of  their 
choice  built  the  refectory,  the  dormitory,  the  chapter 
house  and  abbot's  quarters,  and  in  1 1 07,  the  royal  oppo- 
sition having  apparently  been  overcome,  he  was  blessed 
by  St  Anselm.  He,  however,  lived  only  for  a  year  after- 
wards. 

During  the  last  portion  of  the  twelfth  century  Ed- 
mundsbury  was  ruled  by  the  well-known  abbot  Samson, 
who  was  elected  1 1 82.  He  is  probably  the  best  known 
of  the  whole  line  of  abbots,  through  the  charming  chro- 
nicle of  Jocelin  of  Brakelond,  which  inspired  Carlyle's 
Fast  and  Prese?jt.  The  account  of  his  presentation  to  the 
King,  as  given  by  the  annalist,  is  most  picturesque. 
"Then  Samson  was  nominated  in  the  presence  of  the 
King,"  he  says," and  w^hen  the  King  had  consulted  with 
his  men  for  a  while,  all  were  summoned,  and  the  King 
said,  'You  have  presented  to  me  Samson.  I  know  him 
not.  If  you  had  presented  your  prior  to  me,  I  would  have 
accepted  him,  for  I  have  seen  and  known  him.  But  I  will 
only  do  what  you  will.  Take  heed  to  yourselves;  by  the 
true  eyes  of  God,  if  you  do  ill  I  will  enact  a  recompense 
at  your  hands.' 

"Then  he  asked  the  prior  if  he  assented  to  the 
choice  and  wished  it,  and  the  prior  answered  that  he 

46 


Bury  St  Edmund^ s 

did  will  it  and  that  Samson  was  worthy  of  much  greater 
honour.  Therefore  he  was  elected,  and  fell  at  the  King's 
feet  and  embraced  them.  Then  he  arose  quickly  and 
hastened  to  the  altar,  with  his  head  erect  and  without 
changing  his  expression,  chanting  the  Miserere  mei^  Deus 
with  the  brothers. 

"And  when  the  King  saw  this,  he  said  to  those  that 
stood  by,  *  By  the  eyes  of  God,  this  elect  thinks  he  is 
worthy  to  rule  the  abbey.'  " 

Samson  ruled  for  thirty  years,  in  which,  whilst  dealing 
always  justly,  strictly  and  firmly  but  with  every  kindness, 
he  won  the  admiration  and  affection  of  his  monks.  Car- 
lyle  sketches  him  for  us  as  "the  substantial  figure  of  a 
man  with  eminent  nose,  bushy  brows  and  clear-flashing 
eyes,  his  russet  beard  growing  daily  greyer,"  and  his  hair, 
which  before  his  elevation  to  the  abbot's  chair  had  been 
black,  becoming  daily  more  and  more  silvered  with  his 
many  cares.  Of  cares  he  had  plenty,  because  the  finances 
of  the  house  had  fallen  into  very  low  water  indeed,  and 
there  was  apparently  no  means  of  extricating  the  abbey 
from  the  clutches  of  the  money-lenders.  But  Samson  set 
his  heart  and  soul  to  the  task;  not  prematurely  attempt- 
ing anything  at  once,  but  studying  the  situation  with 
care  and  patience,  and  then,  when  he  had  grasped  what 
was  to  be  known,  determining  upon  the  remedy.  When 
he  came  to  die  in  1 2 1 1 ,  he  was  followed  to  the  grave 
by  a  sorrowing  community  whose  unstinted  reverence 
he  had  won.  The  unknown  monk  of  the  abbey,  who 
was  the  author  of  another  chronicle  in  continuation  of 

47 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Jocelin's,  thus  records  his  death:  "On  the  30th  Decem- 
ber, at  St  Edmund's,  died  Samson,  of  pious  memory,  the 
venerable  abbot  of  that  place,  after  he  had  prosperously- 
ruled  the  abbey  committed  to  him  for  thirty  years  and 
had  freed  it  from  a  load  of  debt,  had  enriched  it  with 
privileges,  liberties,  possessions  and  spacious  buildings, 
and  had  restored  the  worship  of  the  church  both  inter- 
nally and  externally,  in  the  most  ample  manner.  Then 
bidding  his  last  farewell  to  his  sons,  by  whom  the 
blessed  man  deserved  to  be  blessed  for  evermore,  whilst 
they  were  all  standing  by  and  gazing  with  awe  at  a 
death  which  was  a  cause  for  admiration,  not  for  regret, 
in  the  fourth  year  of  the  interdict  he  rested  in  peace." 
Samson  was  succeeded  by  Hugh  de  North  wold,  who, 
in  1228,  became  bishop  of  Ely.  The  King  had  kept  the 
abbatial  property  in  his  hands  for  a  whole  year  before 
allowing  the  community  to  proceed  to  an  election, 
and  even  when  the  leave  came  difficulties  arose  about 
the  "free  choice"  of  the  monks  which  caused  further 
delays,  and  it  was  not  until  March  10,  121 5,  that 
the  question  was  decided  in  Hugh  de  Northwold's 
favour.  Even  then  the  difficulties  were  not  at  an 
end,  and  it  was  only  on  June  9  that  he  was  received  by 
the  King  to  do  homage.  By  this  time,  however,  he 
had  already  been  blessed  by  Archbishop  Langton  on 
May  17,  The  Archbishop  had  thought  that  in  view  of 
the  commotio^  which  had  arisen  between  the  King 
and  the  barons,  it  was  necessary  that  the  abbot  of  St 
Edmundsbury  should  be  blessed  without  delay,  and  so 

48 


THE    ABBOT  S    BRIDGE,    BURY    ST.    EDMUNDS 


Bury  St  Edmund's 

put  himself  in  a  position  to  act  with  other  ecclesiastics 
with  full  abbatial  power  should  events  so  demand.  It 
was  on  May  17,  after  his  benediction  at  Rochester, 
that  the  news  came  from  London  that  the  city  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  barons ;  and  when  the 
King  consented  to  receive  the  abbot  on  June  10,  he 
did  so  "  in  Staine's  Meadow,"  or  Runnymead,  where 
the  discussions  were  already  in  progress  between  the 
King  and  his  barons,  which  issued  in  the  granting  and 
proclamation  of  the  Great  Charter.  Hugh  de  North- 
wold,  the  bishop,  died  in  1254;  and  the  historian, 
Matthew  of  Paris,  who  must  have  known  him  well, 
calls  hivnjios  nigrorum  monachorum,  "the  flower  of  the 
Black  monks,"  and  adds  that  as  he  had  been  known 
as  an  abbot  among  abbots,  so  also  he  shone  brightly  as 
a  bishop  among  bishops. 

On  the  elevation  of  Hugh  to  the  See  of  Ely  in  1228, 
Richard  de  Insula  or  Ely  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He 
had  been  prior  of  Edmundsbury  and  for  seven  years 
had  been  abbot  of  Burton  before  he  was  chosen  to 
succeed  Hugh  de  Northwold.  He  celebrated  his  instal- 
lation on  St  Edmund's  Day,  in  the  presence  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  bishop  of  Ely  and  many  other 
ecclesiastics  and  peers. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  in  detail  the  succession 
of  the  various  abbots  who  ruled  over  the  destinies  of 
Bury  during  the  succeeding  centuries.  In  the  thirteenth 
century  great  difficulty  and  not  a  few  serious  misun- 
derstandings were  experienced   by  the  coming  of  the 

49  4 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Franciscan  friars  to  the  town.  They  established  them- 
selves there  not  only  without  the  leave  but  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  the  monks,  and  through  the  support 
of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  and  the  Queen  they  main- 
tained themselves  in  the  position  of  opposition  they 
had  taken  up  for  nearly  six  years.  Finally,  under  a 
rescript  of  Pope  Urban  IV  in  November  1263,  their 
removal  to  Babwell,  a  site  granted  to  them  by  the 
monks,  was  effected. 

During  the  reigns  of  Edward  I  and  Edward  II  the 
affairs  of  the  abbey  would  appear  to  have  been  suffi- 
ciently prosperous.  It  was  then  that  the  mansion  for 
the  reception  of  royal  guests  was  provided  by  the 
monks.  It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  how  frequent  during 
the  history  of  the  monastery  were  the  visits  of  royal 
personages,  and  it  has  been  said  that  "no  shrine  ever 
drew  so  many  noble  pilgrims  and  crowned  visitors." 
Besides  those  already  mentioned,  Henry  I  came,  in 
1 132,  to  return  thanks  for  his  preservation  during  a 
great  storm  whilst  at  sea;  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  in 
1 189,  was  at  Bury  to  ask  for  God's  blessing  on  going 
to  war  against  the  Saracens;  and  again,  in  1194,  on 
his  return  to  offer  the  rich  standards  of  Isaac,  King  of 
Cyprus.  In  1204  King  John  visited  the  abbey,  hardly, 
perhaps,  so  much  as  a  pilgrim  as  to  ask  for  the  loan 
of  the  jewels  with  which  his  mother,  Queen  Eleanor, 
had  decked  the  shrine  of  the  martyr-king.  Henry  III 
was  twice  at  Bury  as  a  pilgrim,  in  1251  and  1272; 
Edward  I  and  his  Queen  came  in  1289  and  also  in  1 292 

50 


Bury  St  Edmund'' s 
and  1294;  Edward  II  in  1326;  Richard  III  in  1383; 
Henry  VI  in  1433,  1436,  1446  and  1448;  Edward  IV 
in  1469;  and  Henry  VII  in  i486.  In  i  272  and  again  in 
1296  a  Parliament  was  held  at  the  abbey. 

In  1327  the  then  abbot,  Thomas  de  Braughton, 
witnessed  the  almost  total  destruction  of  the  abbey  by 
the  townspeople  of  Edmundsbury.  Many  matters  con- 
cerning the  rights  of  the  monastery  and  the  liberties 
of  the  people  had  long  been  in  debate  between  the 
convent  and  the  town,  when  suddenly,  headed  by  the 
aldermen  and  burgesses,  the  people  made  repeated 
armed  attacks  upon  the  monastery  and  its  possessions. 
They  sacked  and  burned  the  monastic  buildings  and 
robbed  the  abbey  of  its  ornaments,  charters  and  trea- 
sures. They  took  the  prior,  Peter  de  Clopton,  and  some 
twenty  monks  to  the  chapter  house  and  there  forced 
them  to  sign  documents  subversive  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  abbey,  besides  bonds  promising  to 
pay  large  sums  of  money  to  the  insurgent  tenants  and 
to  free  them  from  debt.  The  people  held  the  monastery 
by  force  for  ten  months,  continually  burning  and  de- 
stroying, so  that  when  in  the  end  the  sheriff,  with  the 
King's  soldiers,  came  to  its  relief  it  is  said  that  the 
monks'  common  room  was  the  only  place  left  with 
a  roof  on  it  in  which  to  stable  the  horses.  After  pro- 
longed litigation,  the  convent  was  awarded  ^140,000 
for  damages,  but,  at  the  instance  of  the  King,  the 
whole  was  remitted  except  2,000  marks,  to  be  paid 
at  the  rate  of  100  marks  a  year.  One  account  states 

51  4« 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

that  those  who  had  been  outlawed  plotted  a  revenge. 
Waiting  their  time,  they  seized  the  abbot  at  his  manor 
at  Charington  and,  having  bound  him,  shaved  his  head 
and  beard  and  carried  him  away  with  them  to  London. 
Here  they  kept  their  prisoner  in  secret,  removing  him 
from  house  to  house,  till  they  got  a  chance  to  convey 
him  over  the  Thames  into  Kent  and  thence  later  over 
the  sea  into  Brabant,  where  they  held  him  captive,  "in 
much  misery  and  slavery,"  till  he  was  rescued  by  his 
friends. 

The  celebration  of  the  Christmas  of  1433  by  King 
Henry  VI  at  St  Edmundsbury  affords  us,  in  the  details 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  a  good  picture  of  the 
greatness  and  resources  of  the  abbey  at  this  period  of 
its  existence.  On  All  Saints'  Day,  1433,  ^^  ^i"g  ^^^^ 
publicly  announced  his  intention  of  spending  the  time 
from  Christmas  to  St  George's  Day  at  the  abbey.  Pre- 
parations were  immediately  begun  by  the  monks,  and 
the  royal  lodgings  or  "palace,'  as  the  record  calls  it, 
having  been  found  in  an  indifferent  state  of  repair, 
eighty  workmen  were  at  once  engaged  to  set  it  in  order 
and  decorate  it. 

From  among  his  own  numerous  dependents  Abbot 
Curteys  found  no  difficulty  in  appointing  a  sufficient 
suite  to  wait  upon  the  King,  and  he  arranged,  says 
the  record,  for  a  hundred  officers  of  every  rank  to  at- 
tend on  Henry  during  his  stay.  He  summoned  the 
aldermen  and  the  chief  people  of  Bury  to  discuss  how 
and  in  what  dress  it  was  proper  to  receive  their  King, 

5^ 


Bury  St  Edmund'' s 
and  after  much  talk  it  was  concluded  that  the  alder- 
men and  burgesses  should  wear  their  scarlet  gowns  and 
the  rest  be  content  with  red  cloth  and  hoods  of  blood 
colour.  On  Christmas  Eve,  consequently,  the  aldermen, 
burgesses  and  townsfolk,  to  the  number  of  five  hun- 
dred, in  their  gorgeous  robes,  set  out  on  horseback  to 
meet  King  Henry  at  Newmarket  Heath  and  bring 
him  into  Bury. 

It  is  no  very  difficult  task  to  picture  to  the  imagina- 
tion the  vast  court  of  the  abbey  on  that  occasion, 
crowded  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  the 
people  from  the  neighbouring  villages,  all  eager  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  their  sovereign.  As  rumours  heralded 
the  approach  of  the  gay  cavalcade,  the  great  western 
doors  of  the  abbey  church — works  of  beaten  bronze, 
cunningly  chiselled  by  the  skilful  hands  of  Master 
Hugh,  and  inspired  perchance  by  what  Abbot  Anselm, 
nephew  of  the  sainted  archbishop,  had  himself  seen  at 
Monte  Cassino — were  thrown  open.  Forth  issued  the 
community,  some  sixty  or  seventy  in  number,  all 
vested  in  precious  copes  over  their  habits,  and  follow- 
ing the  cross  and  candles  and  preceding  their  abbot 
in  full  pontificals,  with  whom  on  this  occasion  walked 
Bishop  Alnwick  of  Norwich,  an  honoured  guest.  Then 
the  ranks  of  vested  monks  opened  on  either  side  and 
through  them  bishop  and  abbot  advanced  to  meet  their 
youthful  sovereign,  whereupon  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
quickly  alighting,  assisted  the  King  to  dismount.  Henry 
at  once  advanced  towards  the  procession  and  kneeling 

53 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

upon  a  silken  cloth  was  first  sprinkled  with  holy  water 
by  the  abbot,  and  was  then  presented  with  the  crucifix 
to  be  reverently  kissed  by  him. 

The  procession  then  turned  to  re-enter  the  church. 
The  building  was  large  enough  to  accommodate  even 
so  large  a  crowd  as  was  that  day  assembled.  From  end 
to  end  the  western  front  stretched  for  nearly  250  feet; 
within,  an  unbroken  length  of  over  500  feet  met  the  eye. 
The  massive  Norman  archite6lure  of  a.d.  i  i  12,  was 
relieved  by  the  painted  vaulting — that  of  the  choir  by 
the  monk  "  Dom  John  Wodecroft,  the  King's  painter," 
in  the  days  of  Abbot  John  I  de  Norwold  (i  279-1 301), 
that  of  the  nave  to  match,  executed  in  the  taste  of  the 
fourteenth  century  at  the  expense  of  the  sacrist,  John 
Lavenham  (c.  1370),  who  during  his  term  of  office 
had  spent  something  like  ^50,000  of  our  money  on 
beautifying  the  church.  The  new  lantern  tower  above 
the  choir  was  his  work,  and  so  too  were  the  clerestory 
windows  round  the  sanftuary:  the  painted  glass  in  the 
windows  in  the  southern  side  of  the  minster  were  the 
gift  of  King  Edward  III  to  the  church  of  St  Edmund. 

After  visiting  the  Blessed  Sacrament  at  the  High 
Altar,  the  King  passed  out  of  the  sight  of  the  people 
by  one  of  the  doors  in  the  altar  screen,  which  had 
been  adorned  with  paintings  by  the  care  of  Bishop 
Bromfield.  These  doorways  led  into  the  feretory  beyond 
the  screen,  in  which  was  the  shrine  of  the  sainted 
King  and  martyr.  This  priceless  work  of  art  rested  on 
a  base  of  Gothic  stonework,  and  was  itself  covered 

54 


Bury  St  Edmund^ s 
with  plates  of  gold  enriched  with  every  kind  of  jewel. 
King  John  every  year  of  his  reign  bestowed  ten  marks 
on  the  work  of  beautifying  the  shrine,  and  among  the 
stones  which  sparkled  on  it  were  a  great  and  precious 
sapphire  and  a  ruby  of  great  size,  two  of  his  special 
gifts.  On  the  right  side,  too,  was  the  golden  cross  set 
with  many  jewels  surmounting  a  flaming  carbuncle, 
the  rich  gift  of  Henry  Lacy,  the  last  Earl  of  Lincoln 
of  that  name,  whilst  a  second  golden  cross  from  the 
same  benefat5lor  formed  the  apex  of  the  shrine. 

On  the  east,  at  the  head  of  the  shrine,  two  small 
columns  supported  a  smaller  shrine  containing  the 
relics  of  Leostan,  the  second  abbot  of  Bury,  whilst  on 
the  western  side  at  the  foot  of  the  shrine  was  placed 
the  altar  of  the  Holy  Cross.  Above  the  whole  stretched 
a  canopy,  which  Prior  Lavenham  had  adorned  with 
painted  pidtures.  At  the  four  corners  were  the  great 
waxen  torches  which  burned  before  the  shrine  day  and 
night,  and  were  paid  for  by  the  rent  of  a  Norfolk  manor, 
left  for  the  purpose  by  King  Richard  H. 

It  is  impossible  within  limits  to  follow  in  detail  the 
story  of  Henry's  Christmas  visit  to  Edmundsbury.  It 
will,  perhaps,  be  possible,  however,  to  say  something 
about  the  treasures  which  must  have  existed  at  this 
time  in  the  abbey  vestry  and  which  have,  alas!  now 
all  disappeared.  Unfortunately  we  have  no  inventory 
of  St  Edmundsbury,  but  a  slight  anecdote  makes  us 
understand  what  it  must  have  been.  In  Abbot  Samson's 
time  a  monk  called  Walter  dc  Diss  was  appointed  to 

55 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  responsible  office  of  sacrist.  After  four  days'  expe- 
rience in  the  office  he  ciime  and  asked  to  be  relieved, 
saying  that  since  his  appointment  he  had  never  closed 
his  eyes  and  could  neither  rest  nor  sleep. 

Doubtless,  like  St  Albans,  Glastonbury  and  else- 
where, Bury  possessed  large  sets  of  vestments,  includ- 
ing ten,  thirty  or  even  sixty  copes.  The  fragmentary 
notices  which  remain  afford  at  all  events  some  idea 
of  that  of  which  all  exact  record  is  lost.  For  example, 
here  is  a  cope  "  woven  with  gold "  and  a  precious 
chasuble  given  by  Abbot  Samson  himself;  here  is  a 
chasuble  adorned  with  gold  and  precious  stones  and 
a  cope  of  the  same  given  by  Abbot  Hugh  de  North- 
wold,  afterwards  bishop  of  Ely.  Then,  in  one  press  are 
kept  the  precious  copes,  the  silken  hangings  and  other 
ornaments  provided  by  Abbot  Richard  I  (i  229-1 234); 
then  in  another  are  the  set  of  fifty  copes  and  other 
things  thereto  belonging  (that  is,  doubtless,  albs, 
apparels,  etc.),  which  prior  John  Gosford  had  done  so 
much  to  acquire.  Then,  to  name  only  one  or  two 
more  instances,  there  were  the  vestments  obtained  at 
a  cost  of  over  ^200  by  John  Lavenham;  the  vestment 
bloden  cum  botherflies  de  satyn  given  to  St  Edmund  by 
Edmund  Bokenham,  chaplain  to  King  Edward  III ; 
the  embroidered  cope  of  prior  William  de  Rokeland ; 
the  precious  cope  bought  for  over  ^40  by  Prior 
Edmund  de  Brundish ;  the  sumptuous  embroidered 
cope  given  by  Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln. 

Of  the  plate,  the  most  precious  piece  was  doubtless 

56 


Bury  St  Edmund'' s 
the  great  chalice  of  gold,  weighing  nearly  fourteen 
marks,  the  gift  of  Eleanor,  Queen  of  Henry  II.  It  was 
a  chalice  with  a  history,  for  it  had  been  given  by  the 
community  as  its  contribution  towards  the  ransom  of 
King  Richard  I.  Queen  Eleanor,  the  King's  mother, 
however,  paid  its  value  and  subsequently  restored  it 
to  Edmundsbury  on  condition  that  it  should  never 
again  be  alienated,  as  she  says  in  her  charter,  and  that  it 
was  to  be  preserved  for  ever,  a  memorial  of  her  son 
Richard.  Besides  this  there  was  another  chalice  of  fine 
gold  procured  by  the  sacrist  Hugh  ;  a  cross  of  gold 
given  by  the  Abbot  Samson;  a  third  golden  cross, 
another  present  of  Henry  Lacy,  and  set  with  precious 
stones  to  render  it  more  worthy  as  a  reliquary  for  a 
piece  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  same  generous  benefactor 
gave  a  cup  which  was  much  prized  at  Bury.  It  was  a 
bowl  of  silver  gilt,  of  the  most  wonderful  and  ancient 
workmanship,which  the  donor  asserted  had  belonged  to 
St  Edmund  himself.  This  cup,  on  great  days,  the  chaplain 
of  the  shrine,  wearing  a  surplice,  was  wont  to  offer  to  the 
most  dignified  guests  keeping  the  holiday  in  the  abbey. 
Abbot  Curteys,  who  entertained  the  youthful  King 
Henry  at  this  Christmas  of  1432,  was  himself  the  giver 
of  a  great  work  of  art,  a  pastoral  staff,  which  from 
what  we  know  of  it,  must  have  done  honour  to  the 
English  workman  who  made  it.  It  was  ordered  by 
Abbot  Curteys  in  1430,  and  John  Horwell,  the  gold- 
smith of  London  who  made  it,  pledged  himself  to 
have  it  ready  for  All  Saints'  Day  of  the  same  year.  In 

57 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  crook  were  figured  two  scenes,  on  the  one  side  the 
Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  on  the  other  the 
Annunciation;  below  the  springing  of  the  curve  was  a 
richly  ornamented  niche  enshrining  the  figure  of  St 
Edmund,  whilst  below  this  again  and  forming  the  sum- 
mit of  the  staff  were  twelve  canopies  each  containing 
one  of  the  Apostles.  The  weight  of  this  precious  pas- 
toral crook  was  1 2lbs  95OZS,  and  it  cost  the  abbot  £40 
in  money  of  those  days- 

A  mere  glance  at  the  treasury  of  any  single  abbey 
may  afford  some  idea  of  the  devastation  which  took 
place  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  wonderful  works 
of  art  gathered  together  at  Edmundsbury  during 
centuries  of  corporate  existence  nothing  whatever  is 
known  to  exist ;  the  destruction  was  complete.  No 
wonder  the  commissioners  of  Henry  VIII  could  write 
of  Bury :  "  We  have  found  a  rich  shryne  which  was 
very  cumbrous  to  deface,"  and  that  although  they  had 
"  taken  in  the  said  monastery  in  gold  and  silver  5,000 
marks  and  above,  over  and  besides  a  rich  cross  with 
emeralds,  as  also  divers  and  sundry  stones  of  great  value, 
they  had  left  the  house  well  furnished  "  for  a  further 
spoliation.  No  wonder  that  Camden  in  his  lamenting 
over  the  ruin  of  this  great  house  could  write:  "Greater 
loss  than  this,  so  far  as  the  works  of  man  go,  England 
never  suffered." 

Thevisitationof  Edmundsbury  in  1535  by  ApRice, 
Crumwell's  agent,  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  kind 
of  work  these  men  did.  ApRice's  letter  states  that  they 

58 


Bury  St  Edmund's 
could  find  out  nothing  from  the  religious  "although  we 
did  use  much  diligence,"  and  he  therefore  concludes 
"that  they  had  confederated  and  compacted  before  our 
coming  that  they  should  disclose  nothing."  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  paper  of  charges  sent  with  the  letter  the 
royal  commissioners  do  not  hesitate  to  bracket  nine 
of  the  monks  together  as  guilty  of  immoralities,  and 
to  suggest  the  same  against  the  abbot.  Edmundsbury, 
however,  was,  of  course,  one  of  the  greater  abbeys, 
which  subsequently  to  this  report  the  King  declared 
in  Parliament  to  be  in  a  good  and  religious  state.  The 
end  came  on  November  4,  1539,  when,  after  vainly 
striving  to  stave  off  the  destruction  of  his  house,  Abbot 
Melford  was  compelled  to  resign  his  charge  into  the 
King's  hands.  He  received  a  pension  and  retired  into 
a  small  house  at  the  top  of  Crown  Street,  Bury,  where 
he  shortly  afterwards  died,  of  grief,  it  is  said,  at  the 
calamity  which  had  overwhelmed  his  house  and  Order. 


59 


CHAPTER  VII 

Crowland 

C ROWLAND,  or  Croyland,  is  described  by 
William  of  Malmesbury  as  one  of  the  islands 
in  the  great  tract  of  fen  or  marshland  a  hundred 
miles  in  length,  which  stretches  from  the  middle  of 
England  to  the  eastern  sea.  The  ruins  of  the  abbey 
stand  about  half-way  between  Peterborough  and  Spal- 
ding, on  the  banks  of  the  river  Welland,  which  drains 
off  much  of  the  water  of  this  distrift  into  the  Wash, 
fifty  miles  away.  In  this  spot  early  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury there  settled  a  youth  of  high  family,  named 
Guthlac,  who  having  renounced  the  profession  of  arms, 
desired  to  live  a  secluded  life  amid  the  solitude  of  the 
Lincolnshire  fens.  Shortly  after  his  death,  Ethelwold, 
King  of  the  Mercians,  determined  to  fulfil  here  his 
promise  to  build  a  monastery,  and  in  716  he  sent  for 
Kenulph,  a  monk  of  Evesham,  to  begin  the  foundation. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  Benedi6tine  Crow- 
land,  and,  if  we  can  believe  Ethelbald's  charter  as  given 
in  Ingulph's  Chronicle,  the  King  gave  ^^300  towards 
the  buildings  of  the  abbey  and  promised  ^100  a  year 
more  for  ten  years  to  come.  He  had  granted  the  monks 
the  entire  island;  but  as  it  was  small  and  the  land  very 
insecure,  he  caused  an  innumerable  quantity  of  oaks  and 

60 


Cropland 

alders  to  be  driven  into  the  marshy  ground  round  about 
the  island  as  piles,  and  in  order  to  fill  up  the  ground  he 
had  earth  brought  from  Upland,  nine  miles  away.  In  this 
way  the  ground  was  made  sufficiently  solid  to  support 
the  stone  buildings,  which  at  once  began  to  arise  in  the 
fenland. 

In  870  the  Danes  ravaged  the  whole  country,  and 
having  defeated  Earl  Algar's  army  pursued  the  sur- 
vivors to  the  very  door  of  the  monastery  at  Crowland. 
The  community  hastily  retired,  carrying  off  in  a  box 
the  body  of  their  patron  St  Guthlac  with  his  psalter 
and  whip,  which  is  called  elsewhere  St  Bartholomew's 
whip  and  is  represented  on  the  arms  of  the  abbey,  and 
hid  them  in  Ancarig  Wood  where  there  was  an  hermi- 
tage. The  plate  and  altarpiece  were  then  let  down  into 
the  well  of  the  cloister;  but  the  latter,  which  was  much 
prized  as  being  the  gift  of  King  Witlaf  fifty  years  before, 
and  which  possibly  may  have  been  "the  golden  veil 
embroidered  with  the  fall  of  Troy"  specially  spoken  of, 
would  not  sink  and  was  handed  over  to  the  charge 
of  the  abbot  and  some  seniors.  Thirty  monks  remained 
behind  in  the  monastery  and  continued  to  carry  out 
their  duties  as  before,  until  just  as  Mass  was  over  the 
Danes  broke  into  the  church  where  they  were.  Oskitel, 
the  Danish  king,  murdered  the  abbot  with  his  own 
hands,  and  the  rest  of  the  monks  were  tortured  to  make 
them  reveal  the  place  where  the  church  treasure  was 
hidden,  and  as  they  refused  they  were  put  to  death 
in  various  places  of  the  establishment.  Asker,  the  prior, 

61 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
for  instance,  was  slaughtered  in  the  sacristy;  Lethwyn, 
the  sub-prior,  in  the  refectory,  and  one  only  of  their 
number,  Turgar,  a  boy  of  ten  years  was  spared.  All  the 
tombs  were  broken  open  in  the  hopes  of  discovering  the 
buried  treasures,  which,  however,  were  not  found.  Being 
disappointed  of  their  object,  the  barbarians  laid  the 
bodies  of  the  murdered  monks  in  a  heap  and  setting 
fire  to  them  burnt  as  their  funeral  pyre  the  church  and 
monastic  buildings  on  August  28,  870,  three  days  after 
their  arrival  at  Crowland. 

After  leaving  the  abbey  the  Danes  set  fire  to  Mede- 
shamsted  Abbey,  now  known  as  Peterborough.  In  the 
confusion  caused  by  an  accident  to  some  heavily  laden 
wagons  the  boy  Turgar  escaped,  and  returning  to  Crow- 
land  found  that  the  monks  who  had  gone  to  Ancarig 
had  come  back  and  were  vainly  endeavouring  to  ex- 
tinguish the  fire  which  was  slowly  comsuming  their 
monastery.  Their  first  business,  on  learning  of  the  death 
of  their  abbot  and  prior,  was  to  choose  a  new  superior, 
and  one  of  their  number,  Godric,  was  unanimously 
elected  to  the  office  of  abbot.  He  was  almost  at  once 
called  upon  to  assist  in  removing  the  ruins  of  Mede- 
shamsted,  and  when  doing  so  he  erected  a  pyramidical 
cross  over  the  bodies  of  eighty-four  monks,  who  had 
perished  in  that  monastery  at  the  hands  of  the 
Danes. 

As  most  of  this  history  and  indeed  most  of  the  story 

of  Crowland  depends  upon  the  Chronicle  of  Ingulph, 

now  admitted  to  be  a  composition  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 

62 


Crowland 
tury,  it  must,  of  course,  be  received  with  some  caution, 
although  it  no  doubt  gives  the  traditional  account  of  the 
destruction  of  the  abbey  and  its  gradual  restoration  in 
the  time  before  the  Norman  conquest.  In  1076  the 
Conqueror  made  Ingulph  abbot  of  his  monastery  at 
Crowland,  and  at  the  time  he  took  possession  of  his 
charge  he  found  sixty-two  monks,  of  whom  four  were 
lay  brothers.  Besides  this  there  are  said  to  have  been 
actually  in  residence  there  more  than  a  hundred  monks 
of  other  monasteries,  who  were  called  comprofessi^ 
who  came  and  went  apparently  as  they  liked.  When 
there,  they  had  a  seat  in  the  refectory,  a  stall  in  the 
church,  and  a  bed  in  the  common  dormitory.  These 
monks,  belonging  to  various  destroyed  monasteries, 
apparently  made  Crowland  a  place  of  refuge  in  diffi- 
cult days.  At  this  time — a.d.  1076 — of  the  comprofessi 
in  the  house,  ten  were  from  Thorney,  six  from  Peter- 
borough, eight  from  Ramsey,  nine  from  St  Edmunds- 
bury,  ten  from  Westminster,  fifteen  from  Thetford, 
fourteen  from  Christ  Church,  Norwich,  etc. 

In  1 09 1  a  fire,  of  which  Ingulph  gives  a  vivid 
account,  broke  out  and  destroyed  most  of  the  church 
and  monastery.  It  was  caused  by  the  negligence  of  the 
proverbial  plumber,  who  had  left  the  ashes  of  his  fire 
to  smoulder  after  doing  some  lead  work  on  the  tower. 
To  repair  this  great  misfortune  the  friends  and  patrons 
of  the  abbey  came  forward  with  such  generosity  that 
Ingulph,  before  his  death  in  1 109,  was  enabled  to  see 
much  of  the  monastery  restored  and  preparations  made 

63 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
for  rebuilding  the  church,  over  the  blackened  ruins  of 
which  a  temporary  »*oof  had  been  placed.  In  1114 
the  first  stone  of  the  new  church  was  laid  at  the  east 
angle,  and  various  people  of  rank  laid  other  stones,  pla- 
cing money  upon  them  or  grants  of  stone  or  wood.  The 
foundations  were  laid  upon  massive  piles  of  oak,  and 
many  labourers  came  forward  to  assist  in  the  work  of 
raising  a  worthy  temple  to  God,  without  other  reward 
than  that  of  the  satisfaction  of  taking  part  in  the  great 
work.  Five  thousand  people  were  present  at  the  feast 
of  the  dedication;  this  assembly  included  two  ab- 
bots, two  earls,  two  barons  and  500  guests  in  the 
great  halls.  The  rest  were  entertained  in  the  cloister 
garth. 

During  the  wars  between  the  houses  of  Lancaster 
and  York  Henry  VI  came  to  Crowland  in  1460  and 
remained  there  for  three  days.  Some  time  after,  on  an 
alarm  that  the  Northern  army  was  marching  upon  that 
part  of  the  country,  the  cloisters  and  buildings  gene- 
rally were  filled  to  overflowing  with  household  goods 
of  all  kinds  brought  in  from  the  country  round  about. 
In  1467  Edward  IV  also  visited  Crowland  and  to- 
gether with  200  horsemen  was  entertained  by  the 
abbot. 

The  Perpendicular  north-west  tower  was  built  in 
the  fifteenth  century  in  the  ten  years  between  1460- 
70.  The  beautiful  early  English  sculpture  of  the  le- 
gend of  St  Guthlac  on  the  west  front  was  substituted 
by  Abbot  Ralph  de  la  March  (i  255-1 281)  for  a  por- 

64 


/.- 


^       m 


Crowland 
tion  which  had  been  blown  down  by  a  great  storm; 
the  upper  part,  which  had  seven  tiers  of  canopied 
images,  and  the  great  west  window  were  finished  in 
1380.  In  January,  1470,  Abbot  Litlington  gave  five 
bells  to  the  tower,  which  was  begun  in  1427.  The 
nave  clerestory,  built  without  any  triforium  in  1405, 
must  have  been  imposing;  it  is  now  a  ruin.  The 
monastery  buildings  lay  to  the  south  of  the  present 
remains;  on  the  west  of  the  abbey  court  were  the 
granaries  and  bakehouse  built  by  John  de  Wisbech  about 
1470;  on  the  south  stood  the  lesser  guest  house;  on 
the  east  the  tailor's  and  other  shops  and  offices  and 
the  hall  of  the  lay  brothers;  on  the  north  was  the  main 
gateway  and  the  almonry  The  infirmary  was  appa- 
rently south-east  of  the  church  and  "  the  great  guest 
hall  on  the  west  of  the  cloister  has  an  undercroft  of  three 
alleys." 

Crowland,  like  most  of  "  the  great  and  solemn  ab- 
beys" of  England,  came  into  the  hands  of  Henry  VIII 
in  1539.  The  site  of  the  monastery  soon  passed  away 
out  of  the  King's  hands;  and  the  ruin  of  the  buildings 
would  have  been  even  more  complete  than  it  now  ap- 
pears, had  not  the  inhabitants  purchased  "  the  south  aisle 
of  the  church"  for  ^(^26  and  at  the  same  time  given 
>(^3o  for  two  of  the  old  bells,  to  save  them  from  being 
broken  up  by  the  royal  workmen. 

The  last  abbot  was  John  Briggs  or  Bridges,  and  a 
subsequent  examination  of  one  of  the  dispossessed 
monks,  who  "was  his  confessor  and  one  of  his  execu- 

65  5 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

tors,"  shows  us  the  old  man  dying  away  from  his  ancient 
home,  and  pestered  with  questions  about  some  plate 
which  he  had  been  allowed  to  keep  and  which  was  in 
"a  spruce  coffer  by  his  bedside,"  when  he  was  breath- 
ing his  last  a  few  years  after  the  ruin  of  his  old  home. 
He  was  the  end  of  the  long  line  of  abbots  of  Crow- 
land. 


66 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Evesham 

THE  Benedictine  abbey  of  Evesham  was  in 
ancient  days  the  glory  of  the  fruitful  valley 
in  which  it  stood.  Leland  calls  the  place 
the  horreutn^  the  granary  of  Worcestershire,  and  a  mo- 
dern writer,  who  had  seen  the  country  in  spring, 
white  with  the  apple  and  cherry  blossom  and  in  the 
autumn  golden  with  the  hop  flower,  spoke  of  it  as  "an 
Eden  of  fertility."  Here,  at  a  spot  where  the  Avon, 
making  a  sudden  sweep  round,  describes  more  than 
two  parts  of  a  circle,  on  the  peninsula  thus  formed,  stands 
to-day  the  town  of  Evesham,  which  owes  its  existence 
to  the  abbey  founded  in  the  year  70 1  for  monks  of  the 
Benedictine  Order. 

i\lthough  there  remain  but  few  traces  of  the  original 
buildings,  in  the  height  of  its  glory  Evesham  with  its 
towers  and  turrets,  with  its  church  270  feet  long  and 
its  numerous  chapels,  with  its  cloisters  and  gables,  was 
one  of  the  largest  churches  and  must  have  been  one 
of  the  finest  monastic  establishments  in  the  country. 
The  Norman  gateway  of  the  precincts,  part  of  Abbot 
Reginald's  enclosure  wall,  a  portion  of  the  old  almonry 
with  its  stone  lantern,  above  all  the  Great  Tower, 
built  or  finished  by  Clement  Lichfield  in  the  sixteenth 

67  5a 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

century,  and  the  arch  of  the  Chapter  House,  built  in 
1 3 1 7,  are  all  that  have  been  preserved  of  the  vast 
range  of  buildings.  The  rest  was  pulled  to  the  ground 
and  swept  away  at  the  dissolution  so  entirely  and  so 
immediately,  that  even  in  1 540,  two  years  only  after 
the  event,  Leland  could  describe  it  as  "  gone,  a  mere 
heap  of  rubbish."  The  beautiful  tower,  1 17  feet  high, 
was  only  saved  from  this  same  dire  destruction  by  the 
people  of  the  town,  who  purchased  it  from  the  wreckers. 

The  story  or  legend  of  Evesham  goes  back  a  long 
way.  About  the  year  701,  St  Egwin,  the  third  bishop 
of  the  See  of  Worcester,  founded  the  monastery  and 
dedicated  it  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  in  response  to  a 
vision  which  he  had,  and  in  which  Our  Lady  is  said 
to  have  instructed  him  where  to  place  the  new  founda- 
tion. With  the  name  of  the  founder,  Egwin,  there  is 
conne6ted  a  somewhat  strange  legend,  which  has  no 
doubt  grown  in  the  telling  from  some  fact  which  at 
first  was  easily  to  be  explained.  The  saint  was  twice 
in  Rome,  and  in  the  spirit  of  penance  so  common  in 
those  far-off  days,  on  one  of  his  journeys,  he  is  said  to 
have  locked  fetters  on  his  legs  and  to  have  thrown  the 
key  into  the  Worcestershire  Avon.  This  may,  of  course, 
have  been  the  case,  but  the  story  certainly  tests  the 
credulity  of  modern  days  when  it  goes  on  to  say  that 
inside  a  fish  caught  in  the  Tiber  was  found  the  same 
key  by  which  the  fetters  were  removed  from  Bishop 
Egwin's  legs  in  Rome. 

The  second  visit  Egwin  paid  to  Rome  was  in  com- 

68 


Evesham 

pany  with  King  Kenred  and  King  OfFa,  who  had 
already  proved  themselves  great  benefactors  to  Eve- 
sham. This  was  in  708,  and  it  will  be  remembered 
that  the  two  monarchs  whilst  in  Rome  renounced  their 
crowns  and  took  the  monastic  habit  in  the  Eternal 
City.  St  Egwin  on  his  return,  following  their  example, 
gave  up  his  See  of  Worcester  and  became  first  abbot 
of  the  new  monastery  of  Evesham.  A  succession  of 
eighteen  Saxon  abbots  followed,  of  whom  little  more 
is  known  than  their  names,  and  in  the  uncertain  times 
of  the  tenth  century  the  regular  life  seems  to  have 
ceased,  and  the  monks  appear  to  have  given  place  to 
secular  priests  living  a  sort  of  common  life  together. 
Whether  this  was  the  case  or  no  is  difficult  to  deter- 
mine in  the  absence  of  records,  but  in  960  St  Ethel- 
wold  certainly  appears  to  have  restored  the  monks  by 
command  of  King  Edgar. 

The  last  abbot  of  the  Saxon  line  was  Egilwin,  or 
Agelwy  as  he  is  sometimes  called,  who  succeeded  to 
the  abbacy  on  the  resignation  of  Abbot  Maunus 
through  ill-health  in  1058.  Egilwin  won  for  himself 
the  friendship  and  respect  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
and  ruled  the  abbey  until  1077,  dying  before  he  was 
able  to  carry  out  his  desire  of  rebuilding  the  church 
at  Evesham,  which  then  stood  in  great  need  of  repair. 
It  was  in  1074,  during  his  abbacy,  that  Aldwin  of 
Winchelcombe,  together  with  Alfwy,  a  deacon  of 
Evesham,  and  a  brother  named  Reinfrid,  set  out  from 
Worcestershire  to  restore  some  of  the  monasteries  of 

69 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Northumbria  which  had  been  rendered  desolate  by  the 
Danes.  The  story  may  be  seen  in  Simeon  of  Durham's 
History ^2i]\A  it  there  appears  that  these  three  monks  took 
with  them  from  Evesham  only  the  necessary  books 
and  vestments  for  Office  and  Mass,  which  formed  the 
burden  of  one  ass.  The  result  was  all  that  could  be 
wished  for,  and  their  mission  led  to  the  revival  of  the 
monasteries  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  of  Whitby  and 
of  Lastingham,  from  which  last  named  sprung  St 
Mary's  Abbey  at  York.  The  connexion  of  Evesham 
with  this  great  Benedictine  house  in  the  North  was  per- 
petuated by  the  special  union,  which  ever  existed  be- 
tween them,  and  which,  in  the  words  of  the  annalist, 
made  Evesham  and  St  Mary's  to  be  "  as  one  body  and 
one  church." 

In  1077  William  the  Conqueror  appointed  the  first 
Norman  abbot,  who  at  once  commenced  the  building 
of  the  church  towards  which  his  Saxon  predecessor 
had  left  behind  him  "five  chests  full  of  money."  This 
treasure  not  proving  sufficient,  Abbot  Walter  is  said  to 
have  despatched  some  of  his  monks  round  about  Eng- 
land on  a  collecting  tour,  with  the  shrine  of  St  Egwin. 
This  journey  produced  a  considerable  sum  and  enabled 
him  to  finish  the  work. 

Abbot  Walter  was  succeeded,  in  the  reign  of  Wil- 
liam Rufus,  by  Robert,  a  monk  of  Jumieges  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  during  the  time  of  his  rule,  about  1 100,  an 
offshoot  of  twelve  monks  was  sent  over  to  Denmark 
to  found  a  Benedictine  monastery  there.  This  was  un- 

70 


'Evesham 

dertaken  at  the  request  of  the  King,  Eric  the  Good, 
and  of  a  bishop  named  Hubald,  who  was  himself  an 
Englishman  and  a  Benedictine.  Twelve  monks  departed 
from  Evesham  in  response  to  this  demand  and  were 
established  at  Odensee,  which  always  recognized  its 
dependence  on  the  parent  house  in  England  and  to  the 
end  continued  to  preserve  constant  intercourse  with  it. 

An  interesting  document  of  about  this  same  period, 
preserved  in  the  Register  of  the  abbey,  affords  us  some 
information  as  to  the  number  of  monks  at  Evesham 
and  about  the  officials  employed  in  the  administration. 
There  were  then  sixty-seven  monks  belonging  to  the 
abbey,  including  the  twelve  in  Denmark,  five  nuns, 
three  poor  people  "for  the  maundy,"  and  three  clerics 
having  the  same  position  as  the  monks.  The  number 
of  the  servants  of  the  abbey  was  sixty-five,  of  whom 
five  served  in  the  church,  two  in  the  infirmary,  two  in 
the  chancery,  five  in  the  kitchen,  seven  in  the  bake- 
house, four  in  the  brewery ;  four  attended  the  baths,  two 
were  shoemakers,  two  were  in  the  pantry,  three  were 
gardeners;  one  attended  at  the  gate  of  the  close,  two 
at  the  great  gate;  five  worked  in  the  vineyard,  four  were 
fishermen,  four  waited  in  the  abbot's  chamber,  three 
waited  in  the  hall,  four  attended  on  the  monks  when 
they  went  abroad,  and  two  were  watchmen. 

The  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  at  Evesham 
were  periods  of  building  and  reconstrudlion.  With  the 
exception  of  one  abbot,  Roger  Norreis,  a  Canterbury 
monk,  who  had  been  forced  upon  the  religious  by  the 

71 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
King,  and  who  proving  himself  worthy  of  their  sus- 
picions had  to  be  deposed  by  the  Pope,  most  of  the 
abbots  were  members  of  their  own  house  and  ruled 
well,  ever  adding  something  to  the  glories  of  Evesham. 
Of  all  the  rest  perhaps  the  name  of  Thomas  de  Marle- 
berge,  who  held  the  office  from  1 229  to  1236,  deserves 
to  be  best  remembered,  not  only  as  a  builder  of  the 
walls  of  both  church  and  monastery,  but  as  a  decorator 
of  the  existing  buildings,  and  as  a  great  colleftor  of 
books  for  the  monastic  library. 

The  end  came  to  Evesham  in  the  sixteenth  century 
as  to  the  rest  of  the  religious  houses.  A  chance  survival 
of  the  Latin  Letter  Book  of  a  monk  of  the  monastery, 
who  was  also  a  master  in  the  Benedictine  college  at 
Oxford,  shows  that  studies  were  in  no  wise  negledled 
at  Evesham  at  the  close  of  the  long  centuries  of  its 
history.  The  abbot  Clement  Lichfield,  who  was  eledted 
in  1513,  after  disbursing  large  sums  to  Henry  VIII, 
to  Wolsey  and  to  Crumwell,  in  the  hope  of  propitiating 
them,  resigned  his  office  in  1538  rather  than  surrender 
his  abbey  to  the  King.  He  had  built  the  ornate  tower 
which  still  survives  as  his  monument,  and  had  added  two 
chapels  of  considerable  beauty  to  the  churches  of  St 
Lawrence  and  of  All  Saints  in  the  town.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Philip  Hawford  or  Ballard,  who  was  appointed 
in  order  that  he  might  surrender  his  abbey  and  its 
possessions  into  the  King's  hands;  and  consequently  on 
November  17,  1539,  he  and  his  community  gave  over 
their  property  in  a  deed  of  surrender  to  the  royal  offi- 

72 


Kvesham 
cials.  Amongst  the  names  of  those  who  are  enrolled 
as  members  of  the  community  in  that  document  is 
that  of  John  Feckenham.  This  monk  subsequently  be- 
came abbot  of  Westminster,  when  that  foundation  was 
restored  in  Queen  Mary's  reign,  and  amongst  those  to 
whom  he  gave  the  Benediftine  habit  during  the  brief 
period  of  the  renewed  religious  life  at  Westminster 
was  one  Sigebert  Buckley.  Half  a  century  later,  whilst 
a  prisoner  for  his  religious  convi6lions  in  the  London 
prison  of  the  Gatehouse,  Buckley  clothed  two  priests 
with  the  habit,  and  thence  it  is  through  Evesham  that 
the  present  English  Benedi6tines  claim  an  unbroken  line 
of  succession  from  those  who  came  to  England  with 
St  Augustine. 

Two  years  after  the  suppression  of  the  monastery, 
Clement  Throgmorton,  the  royal  receiver,  sets  down 
the  total  receipts  from  the  property  at  Evesham  at 
^1,521  IS.  lod.  with  £jo  arrears.  He  had  paid  the 
pensions  of  the  abbot,  the  quondam  abbot  and  thirty-two 
monks  as  well  as  an  annuity  to  "  the  instru6lor  of  the 
boys,"  which  was  j(^io.  At  various  times  ^^400  had 
been  paid  to  the  Crown  from  the  receipts  of  the  Eve- 
sham dissolved  monastery. 


73 


CHAPTER  IX 

Furness 

ON  the  peninsula  which  stretches  out  into  the 
sands  and  seas  of  Morecombe  Bay  in  Lanca- 
shire stands  what  remains  of  Furness  Abbey. 
Only  a  few  miles  away  on  the  sea  coast,  so  close,  in- 
deed, that  the  bustle  and  noise  of  its  ever-clamorous 
iron  foundries  can  almost  be  heard  in  the  silent  ruins, 
is  Barrow.  The  contrast  between  the  two  places  is  ob- 
vious and  complete:  the  one  is  a  memorial  of  a  by- 
gone age;  of  the  dead  past  of  a  life  of  seclusion;  of  calm 
study,  and,  above  all,  of  prayer.  It  is  a  record  of  an  in- 
tense belief  in  the  unseen  world,  and  in  the  intimate 
connexion  of  the  future  life  with  the  present,  the  super- 
natural with  the  natural.  The  other,  Barrow,  is  the  type 
of  modern  enterprise,  modern  ways,  and  even  of  modern 
beliefs;  in  place  of  quiet  and  repose  there  is  noise  and 
bustle,  and  little  time  or  place  for  supernatural  ideals 
amid  the  perpetual  present  reality  of  work,  work,  work, 
where  men  are  ever  being  ground  to  lifeless  and  soulless 
masses  of  humanity  in  the  great  money-making  machines 
of  the  vast  iron  industry. 

The  monastery  of  Furness  was  first  founded  in  1 1 24 
by  King  Stephen  before  he  had  come  to  the  Throne  of 
England.  The  monks  were  Benedictines  from  Savigny 

74 


Furness  Abbey 
in  France,  and  they  were  first  located  at  a  place  called 
Tulketh,  near  Preston.  They  moved,  however,  in  1 1  27 
to  Furness,  which  was  then  called  Benkangsgill,or"  the 
valley  of  the  deadly  nightshade."  A  poem  written  by 
one  of  the  monks  in  a  later  age  connects  the  place-name 
with  a  legend  telling  how  the  coming  of  the  monks  ren- 
dered the  poison  of  the  plants  harmless. 

In  the  time  of  Peter  of  York,  the  fourth  abbot  of 
Furness,  Serlo,  the  abbot  of  Savigny,  which  was  the 
mother  house  of  Furness,  joined  the  Cistercian  move- 
ment, and  submitted  himself  in  all  things  to  St  Bernard. 
Abbot  Peter  of  York  and  his  English  community  were 
at  first  unwilling  to  change  their  habit,  which  up  to 
this  had  been  that  of  the  Black  Benedictines,  and  he 
personally  journeyed  to  Rome  and  obtained  from  Pope 
Eugenius  III  a  declaration  that  the  Abbey  of  Furness 
should  always  remain  in  the  Order  in  which  it  was 
established, notwithstanding  that  the  mother  house  had 
joined  the  Cistercians. 

Matters  were  so  far  apparently  settled  when  Abbot 
Peter  was  persuaded — captus  (taken)  is  the  word  of  the 
chronicle — by  the  monks  of  Savigny  to  pay  a  visit  to 
that  house  on  his  way  back  to  his  monastery.  When 
they  had  got  him  at  Savigny,  he  was  induced  to  resign 
his  abbatial  office  and  become  a  monk  to  receive  train- 
ing in  the  Cistercian  system.  He  succeeded  so  well  that 
later  on  he  was  appointed  abbot  of  the  Cistercian  house 
of  Quarre,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Meanwhile,  Richard, 
a  learned  doctor  and  a  monk  of  Savigny,  was  sent  over 

75 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
to  Furness  as  abbot.  In  a  very  short  time,  by  his  teach- 
ing and  example,  this  Abbot  Richard  had  won  over  the 
community  to  the  new^ union;  they  again  acknowledged 
the  abbey  of  Savigny  as  their  mother  house,  and  in  a 
brief  time  had  become  part  of  the  Cistercian  Order. 

Furness  gradually  became  possessed  of  great  landed 
property.  Besides  the  large  peninsula  on  which  it  was 
situated,  and  which  it  owned  practically  in  its  entirety, 
it  had  lands  and  possessions  in  numerous  counties  of 
England.  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I 
its  revenue  was  estimated  at  jT  18,000  of  our  money. 
The  enclosure  wall  of  the  monastery  surrounded  sixty- 
three  acres,  and  there  are  many  remains  of  the  old 
buildings  to  prove  their  extent.  The  present  hotel  is  said 
to  have  been  the  abbot's  lodging.  Of  the  church,  the 
arch,  60  feet  in  height,  on  the  east  of  the  crossing, 
remains;  the  late  Perpendicular  tower  at  the  west  end 
is  1 7  feet  square,  and  was  built  within  the  late  Norman 
nave,  which  has  aisles  and  is  160  feet  long  and  65  feet 
broad.  The  transepts  are  129  feet  across,  and  have 
eastern  chapels.  The  choir  extends  two  bays  into  the 
nave,  and  the  sanctuary  still  retains  the  platform  of 
the  altar,  a  sedilia  of  five  canopies,  and  aumbries. 
In  the  wall  of  the  south  transept  may  yet  be  seen 
the  dormitory  stairs  used  by  the  monks  when  coming 
to  the  night  office.  The  domestic  buildings  are  of  a 
date  early  in  the  thirteenth  century.  On  the  west  side 
of  the  cloister  was  a  vaulted  crypt  of  the  guest  house; 
on  the  east  is  the  Chapter  House  60  feet  in  length, 

76 


Furness  Abbey 
and  the  parlour  and  cloister  aumbry.  On  either  side  of 
the  Chapter  House,  entered  by  two  doorways,  is  the 
common  room,  with  a  fireplace  in  it.  It  is  50  feet  long, 
and  is  of  fourteen  bays,  having  the  dormitory  above  it. 
Furness  apparently  went  on  in  the  even  tenor  of 
its  ways,  without  making  history  in  the  usual  sense  of 
the  word,  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  till  the  six- 
teenth century.  It  had  at  all  times,  apparently,  a  large 
community,  and  beyond  the  thirty  choir  monks, 
which  was  the  number  constantly  maintained,  it  sent 
out  several  colonies  to  make  new  foundations.  Thus 
Calder  Abbey  was  its  first  daughter-house  in  1 1  34,  in 
which  same  year  it  established  Rushin  Abbey  in  the 
Isle  of  Man.  Fifty  years  later  it  colonized  Swineshead, 
but  after  this  time  these  offshoots  were  discouraged  by 
the  Cistercian  General  Chapter.  Besides  the  English 
offshoots,  moreover,  there  were  several  Irish  foundations, 
which  had  intimate  relations  with  Furness,  and  even 
claimed  to  have  had  their  beginnings  from  it.  From 
early  times  it  would  also  appear  that  the  bishops  of  the 
Isle  of  Man  were  wont  to  be  chosen  by  the  advice  of 
the  abbot  of  Furness  and  frequently  from  his  com- 
munity. The  connexion  between  the  Isle  of  Man  and 
Furness  was  always  close,  and  in  some  indefinite  way 
the  abbot  appears  to  have  enjoyed  a  kind  of  jurisdiction 
over  it.  Rushin  Abbey,  the  daughter-house  of  Furness 
in  the  island,  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  remaining  un- 
disturbed in  the  sixteenth  century  for  some  consider- 
able time  after  the  rest  of  the  monasteries  in  the  three 

77 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
kingdoms  had  been  dissolved.  In  Ireland  several  Cis- 
tercian houses  were  either  cells  of  Furness  or  looked  on 
it  as  their  mother  house ;  for  instance,  Fermoy  or  De 
Costro  Dei;  Ynes  or  De  iftsula^  in  county  Dov^n;  Holy 
Cross,  in  the  diocese  of  Cashell,  and  one  or  two  more. 

The  extent  of  the  possessions  of  the  abbey  entailed 
obhgations,  and  required  that  the  monks  should  fur- 
nish a  number  of  soldiers  to  the  King  in  any  need.  The 
number  is  put  at  1,200  men,  of  whom  a  third  were 
horsemen.  At  the  battle  of  Flodden  Sir  Edward  Stanley 
commanded  such  a  contingent  of  "  Furness  men." 
Even  during  the  time  that  the  abbey  existed,  the  iron 
ore  of  the  neighbourhood  was  worked,  although  pro- 
bably not  with  any  great  vigour.  Still  there  are  records 
showing  that  for  the  purpose  of  smelting  the  ore  the 
monks  had  erected  two  furnaces  on  Walney  Island, 
which  stretches  out  at  the  foot  of  the  peninsula  oppo- 
site the  modern  Barrow-in-Furness.  The  monks  also 
were  possessed  of  ships  for  the  purpose  of  trading  with 
foreign  countries,  and  no  doubt  the  iron  ore  or  smelted 
iron,  was  their  chief  trading  commodity. 

The  destruction  of  Furness,  as  one  of  the  larger 
abbeys,  came  at  a  somewhat  earlier  date  than  many  in  a 
similar  position  and  of  equal  importance.  The  fact  that 
it  was  able,  even  in  a  slight  degree,  to  be  connected 
with  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  gave  the  royal  officials 
a  means  of  exerting  pressure  upon  the  community  of 
which  they  were  not  slov^  to  avail  themselves.  Roger 
Pyle  was  at  that  time  the  abbot,  and  he  and  some  of 

78 


Furness  Abbey 
his  community,  "  with  the  tenants  and  servants,  were 
successfully  examined  in  private  "  by  the  royal  agents 
as  to  their  transadions  with  the  northern  insurgents. 
The  result  was  summed  up  in  a  bill  of  accusations 
against  some  members  of  the  abbey.  The  abbot  at  the 
time  of  the  visitation  had  caused  his  monks  to  be 
foresworn.  The  monks  of  Sawley,  on  the  suppression 
of  that  monastery,  had  been  sent  back  to  Furness  as 
their  mother  house,  and  directly  the  rebellion  had 
broken  out,  the  abbot  had  induced  them  to  go  back 
to  their  old  home  and  begin  their  religious  life  again. 
The  abbot  also  "concealed  the  treason  of  Henry  Saw- 
ley,  monk,  who  said  no  secular  knave  should  be  head 
of  the  Church."  These  accusations  were  framed  by  a 
friar  named  Robert  Legat;  and  a  priest  named  Roger 
Pele,  vicar  of  Dalton,  said  that  the  abbot  did  not  keep 
the  King's  injunctions;  and  one  of  the  monks,  John 
Broughton,  added  that  the  prophecies  of  the  Holy 
Maid  of  Kent  were  known  at  Furness.  A  tenant,  too, 
declared  that  the  abbot  of  Furness  had  ordered  the 
monks  to  do  the  best  for  the  commons,  "which,"  runs 
the  official  record,  "  the  abbot  in  his  confession  doth 
flatly  deny." 

As  regards  the  monks,  the  prior,  Brian  Garner, 
and  one  of  the  seniors,  John  Grayn,  were  reported 
to  have  assembled  the  convent  tenants  on  All-Hallows' 
Eve,  when  the  latter  said  that  "the  King  should  make 
no  more  abbots  there,  but  they  would  choose  them 
themselves,"  etc. 

79 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

The  result  of  the  inquiry  held  at  Furness  was  re- 
ported to  the  King  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex.  A  sufficient 
amount  of  vague  accusation  had  been  obtained  against 
the  abbot  to  have  secured  for  him  a  fate  similar  to  that 
of  the  abbots  of  Whalley  and  Sav^ley,  and  to  ensure  the 
passing  of  the  monastic  property  to  the  King  by  the 
attainder  and  death  of  the  abbot.  The  Earl  of  Sussex, 
however,  hit  upon  another  plan.  The  King  had  written 
to  him:  "By  such  examinations  as  you  have  sent  us  it 
appeareth  that  the  abbot  of  Furness  and  divers  of  his 
monks  have  not  been  of  that  truth  towards  us  that  to 
their  duties  appertaineth.  We  desire  and  pray  you  (there- 
fore) with  all  the  dexterity  you  can,  to  devise  and  ex- 
cogitate, to  use  all  the  means  to  you  possible,  to  en- 
search  and  try  out  the  very  truth  of  their  proceedings 
and  with  whom  they  or  any  of  them  have  had  any 
intelligence  .  .  .  and  our  pleasure  is,  that  you  shall,  upon 
further  examination,  commit  the  said  abbot  and  such 
of  his  monks  as  you  shall  suspeft  to  have  been  offenders 
to  ward;  to  remain  till  you  shall,  upon  the  signification 
unto  us  of  such  other  things  as  by  your  wisdom  you 
shall  try  out,  know  further  our  pleasure." 

In  reply  to  this  communication  Sussex  wrote  on  April 
6  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  more  out  of  the  abbot 
than  he  had  previously  done.  He  had  committed  to  safe 
custody  in  Lancaster  Castle  two  of  the  monks  (of  whom 
Henry  Sawlcy  was  apparently  one)  "which  was  all  we 
could  find  faulty."  Seeing,  therefore,  that  it  was  not 
likely  that  any  "material  thing,"  done  "  after  thepardon,  ' 

80 


Furness  Abbey 
would  be  discovered  against  the  abbot  and  his  monks 
"  that  would  serve  the  purpose,"  the  earl  now  exposed  his 
own  plan  for  obtaining  at  once  the  rich  possessions  of 
Furness  Abbey  for  the  King.  "  I,  the  said  earl,"  he  says, 
"  devising  with  myself,  if  one  way  would  not  serve  how 
and  by  what  other  means  the  said  monks  might  be  rid 
from  the  said  abbey,  and  consequently  how  the  same  be 
at  your  gracious  pleasure,  caused  the  said  abbot  might 
be  sent  for  to  Whalley;  and  thereupon,  after  we  had 
examined  him,  and  indeed  could  not  perceive  that  it 
was  possible  for  us  to  have  any  other  matter,  I,  the  said 
earl,  as  before  by  the  advice  of  other  of  your  council, 
determined  to  essay  him  as  of  myself,  whether  he  would 
be  contented  to  surrender,  give  and  grant  unto  your 
heirs  and  assigns  the  said  monastery." 

The  position  did  not  admit  of  any  doubt.  It  was  a 
choice  between  death  and  surrender:  and  with  the  fate 
of  his  brother  abbots  clearly  before  his  mind,  and  with 
the  bodies  of  Abbot  Paslew  of  Whalley  and  his  compa- 
nions still,  perhaps,  swinging  before  the  gate  of  Whalley, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  Sussex  carried  his  point.  So 
on  April  5,  1537,  in  the  presence  of  Sussex  and  others. 
Abbot  Roger  Pyle  signed  the  official  paper  surrendering 
Furness  and  all  its  possessions  to  the  King,  because  of 
the  "misorder  and  evil  lives,  both  unto  God  and  our 
prince,  of  the  brethren  of  the  said  monastery." 

Immediately  this  document  had  been  obtained  from 
the  abbot,  three  knights  were  dispatched  from  Whal- 
ley "to  take  into  their  hands,  rule  and  governance 

81  6 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  said  house  to  the  use  of  your  highness  and  to  see 
that  the  monks  and  servants  of  the  same  be  kept  in  due 
order  and  nothing  be  embezzled."  Then  the  deed  of 
surrender  was  drawn  up  ready  for  the  signature  of  the 
monks,  and  on  the  following  Monday,  April  9,  1537, 
the  commissioners  arrived  with  the  abbot  and  the  deed 
already  prepared.  It  was  read  to  the  community  in  their 
Chapter  House,  and  they  at  once  took  the  only  course 
possible  and  ratified  the  act  of  their  superior.  Thirty 
monks  out  of  the  thirty-three  named  as  the  community 
by  Sussex  signed  the  document,  two  were  in  prison  in 
Lancaster,  only  one  apparently  did  not  affix  his  name 
to  the  instrument  of  their  corporate  extinction. 

No  pension  was  granted  to  the  monks  in  exchange 
for  the  surrender.  All  they  had  of  their  own  on  being 
turned  out  into  the  world  was  forty  shillings  each,  ex- 
cept three  out  of  the  thirty,  "  which  being  sick  and 
impotent  were  given  sixty  shillings." 

"  The  vast  and  magnificent  edifice  of  Furness  was 
forsaken,"  writes  Canon  Dixon,  "the  lamp  of  the  altar 
of  St  Mary  went  out  for  ever,  and  in  the  deserted 
cloisters  no  sound  was  heard  but  the  axe  and  hammer 
of  those  who  came  to  cut  away  the  lead,  dash  down 
the  bells,  hew  away  the  rafters  and  break  in  pieces  the 
arches  and  pillars.  Thus  dismantled,  the  ruin  was  left  as 
a  common  quarry  for  the  convenience  of  every  country- 
man who  could  cart  away  the  sculptured  stones  for 
building  a  pigstye  or  a  byre." 

The  sales  of  the  monastic  goods  realized  the  great 

82 


Furness  Abbey 

sum  of  close  on  >C^oo»  ^'^^  bands  of  imported  work- 
men were  employed  for  a  long  time  on  the  work  of 
wrecking  the  buildings.  "  Also,"  says  the  official  ac- 
count, "  paid  to  divers  and  sundry  labourers  and  arti- 
ficers hired,  as  well  for  taking  down  of  the  lead  of  the 
said  monastery,  with  costs  of  melting  and  casting  the 
same,  as  for  pulling  down  of  the  church,  steeple  and 
other  '  housing '  of  the  said  monastery,  with  emption 
and  provision  of  ropes  and  other  engines  occupied 
about  the  same,  ^"-jo  4s.  gd." 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  poor  felt  the  suppression  most 
keenly.  From  time  immemorial,  on  Maundy  Thurs- 
day, alms  had  been  bestowed  on  the  poor  at  the  abbey 
gate,  and  a  hundred  poor  boys  in  the  cloister  each  re- 
ceived more  than  a  shilling  of  our  money.  Yearly  on 
St  Crispin's  Day  five  oxen  were  distributed  among  the 
most  needy.  Each  week  eight  poor  widows  had  their 
bread  and  beer  at  the  monastic  kitchen,  daily  the  poor 
were  relieved  at  the  almonry,  whilst  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  house  till  the  dissolution  thirteen  poor  people 
were  daily  maintained  within  its  walls. 

It  has  been  computed  that  the  total  of  the  cha- 
rities distributed  at  Furness  Abbey  whilst  the  monks 
were  there  amounted  yearly  to  a  sum  equal  to  jCs^^  ^^ 
our  money. 

The  ruins,  which  are  now  the  property  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  are  religiously  cared  for,  and 
they  cannot  fail  to  exert  a  fascination  over  all  lovers 
of  architecture  and  of  the  bygone  ages.  Wordsworth 

83  6a 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
has  expressed  what  he  felt  on  seeing  Furness  In  one  of 
his  sonnets: 

Here,  wlierc  havoc  tired  and  rash  undoing 

Man  left  the  structure  to  become  Time's  prey; 

A  soothing  spirit  following  in  the  way 

That  nature  takes,  her  counter- work  pursuing; 

See  how  her  ivy  clasps  the  sacred  ruin 

Fall  to  prevent  or  beautify  decay, 

And  on  the  mouldering  walls  how  bright,  how  gay 

The  flowers  in  pearly  dew  their  bloom  renewing. 


84 


CHAPTER  X 

Fountains 

IT  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a  more  fascinating 
sight  than  the  ruins  of  Fountains  seen  in  the  dis- 
tance from  the  high  ground  above.  For  beauty  of 
position,  for  architectural  perfection,  and  for  the  extent 
of  the  still  existing  buildings,  the  abbey  of  "Our  Lady 
of  the  Water  Springs,"  must  be  allowed  the  first  place 
among  similar  English  sights.  The  obvious  care  now 
bestowed  upon  the  preservation  of  all  that  destroying 
hands  have  left  adds  in  an  unexpected  way  to  the  charm 
which  the  remains  of  church  and  buildings  exert  over 
the  mind.  No  tree  or  shrub  has  been  allowed  to  grow 
up  from  within  either  church  or  cloister;  no  ivy  clothes 
the  walls  or  clings  to  mullion  and  pillar;  and  no  scat- 
tered masonry  cumbers  the  ground.  All  is  in  order,  as 
far  as  order  is  possible  in  such  a  vast  ruin,  and  the  effect 
of  the  whitened  walls  and  towers  as  seen  from  afar  is  to 
add  a  somewhat  mysterious,  ghostly  character  to  the 
buildings.  Over  all  stands  out  against  the  sky  the  great 
tower  which  forms  so  distinguishing  a  mark  at  Foun- 
tains, and  on  its  cornice  the  visitor  may  still  read  the 
legend  cut  deep  in  stone:  Regi  sceculorum^  etc.,  "To 
the  Immortal  and  Invisible  King  of  Ages,  to  the  only 
God,  be  honour  and  glory  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen." 

85 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

Fountains  owed  its  existence  to  the  movement  to- 
wards a  stricter  form  of  religious  life  which  was  initia- 
ted at  Citeau  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eleventh  century  by 
St  Robert,  and  was  carried  to  perfection  by  Stephen  Har- 
ding and  St  Bernard.  During  the  lifetime  of  the  latter,  the 
Cistercians,  as  they  were  called  after  their  place  of  origin, 
became  established  in  England,  and  the  Order  quickly 
took  deep  root.  The  first  house  in  this  country  was 
apparently  that  of  Furness  in  Lancashire,  founded  by 
Stephen  of  Blois  in  1 1 27.  The  main  object  aimed  at  by 
this  branch  of  the  Benedictine  Order  was  to  secure  the 
greater  personal  sanctification  of  the  members  in  the 
stricter  observance  of  the  Rule.  For  the  purpose  of 
developing  the  contemplative  side  of  the  religious  life 
the  Cistercians  made  choice  of  lonely  valleys  or  other 
sequestered  spots  where  they  might  lead  a  life  of  soli- 
tude, free  from  care  and  distracting  thoughts.  Hence 
came  the  saying:  Bernardus  valles  amabat. 

In  Yorkshire  the  first  foundation  made  by  St  Ber- 
nard, as  "a  layer  from  his  noble  vine  at  Clairvaulx," 
was  at  Rievaulx.  At  this  time,  in  some  of  the  Bene- 
dictine monasteries  of  England,  there  were  religious 
souls  who  desired  to  take  part  in  the  Cistercian  move- 
ment, and  to  leave  their  own  cloister  for  a  stricter  form 
of  observance.  So  when  the  mode  of  life  at  Rievaulx 
became  known  at  St  Mary's,  York,  twenty  miles  away, 
some  of  the  monks  were  moved  with  a  desire  to  join 
the  new  observance.  At  first  there  were  but  seven  of 
them,  and,  apparently,  the  difficulty  they  experienced 

86 


Fountains 
in  obtaining  permission  to  leave  their  monastery  was 
mainly  owing  to  the  good  state  of  their  own  house  of 
St  Mary.  With  opposition  and  discussion,  however, 
their  numbers  grew  until  there  were  sufficient  for  a 
Cistercian  foundation,  namely  thirteen,  of  whom  one 
was  the  prior.  Their  abbot  at  St  Mary's  having  refused 
absolutely  to  allow  his  monks  to  take  up  their  new  ven- 
ture,they  appealed  to  Thurstan,  the  Archbishop  of  York, 
to  help  them.  After  convincing  himself  of  their  genuine 
vocation,  the  Archbishop  agreed  to  do  so,  and  under 
his  protection  they  left  St  Mary's  Abbey  on  October  4, 
1 1 32,  taking  nothing  away  with  them  but  their  reli- 
gious habits.  St  Bernard  subsequently  wrote  to  Abbot 
Geoffrey  of  St  Mary's  to  deny  that  he  or  any  of  the 
Clairvaulx  monks  had  suggested  or  inspired  this  exo- 
dus from  his  monastery,  but  at  the  same  time  he  indi- 
cated that  to  him  in  all  this  movement  the  working  of 
God's  Spirit  could  be  seen.  The  Saint  also  wrote  to 
encourage  the  monks  of  the  York  abbey  who  desired 
to  pass  under  his  rule,  and  to  tell  them  he  was  sending 
brother  Geoffrey,  "a  holy  and  religious  man,"  to  rule 
over  them  and  train  them  in  the  practices  of  the  Cis- 
tercian Order. 

In  the  meantime  the  twelve  monks  from  St  Mary's, 
York,  with  Prior  Richard  at  their  head,  had  left  their 
cloister  and  were  shut  up  in  the  house  of  Archbishop 
Thurstan,  since,  notwithstanding  the  protests  and  cen- 
sures of  their  abbot,  they  refused  to  return  to  St  Mary's. 
Finally,  the  Archbishop  gave  them  a  plot  of  ground 

87 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
near  Ripon,  which  had  previously  been  a  wild,  un- 
cultivated place.  It  was  situated  near  to  the  running 
water  of  the  river  Skell,  was  enclosed  by  rocky  ground 
and  thorn-covered  hills,  and  was  a  fitting  place  in  which 
to  build  for  themselves  a  monastery  of  stria  observance. 
He  appointed  Prior  Richard  their  abbot  and  blessed  him 
upon  Christmas  Day,  1 1  3  2.  The  winter  was  upon  them, 
and  it  was  passed  amid  great  privations,  for  there  were 
as  yet  no  buildings  whatever,  and  the  Uttle  colony  was 
lodged  beneath  a  giant  elm  which  stood  in  the  midst  of 
the  valley  and  possibly  also  under  some  of  the  great  yew 
trees  which  bear  the  name  of  the  "  seven  sisters,"  and  one 
or  two  of  which,  preserved  in  their  old  age  with  every 
care,  still  remain.  The  elm,  as  a  manifestation  of  God's 
care  over  this  little  flock,  is  said  to  have  kept  its  leaves 
green  during  the  whole  of  the  long  northern  winter. 
There  the  monks  all  lived  together,  twelve  priests  and 
one  deacon,  and,  as  far  as  might  be,  carried  out  the 
regular  Hfe  during  the  dark  days  and  long  nights  under 
the  branches  of  the  great  elm.  The  bishop  provided 
them  with  bread,  and  for  drink  they  had  the  overflowing 
water  of  their  stream.  So  the  place  became  to  them, 
San5la  Maria  de  Fontibus — Our  Lady  of  the  Springs. 
After  the  summer  had  come  to  them  in  the  valley,  they 
took  counsel  together  and  determined  to  send  to  St 
Bernard  with  a  request  that  he  would  take  them  under 
his  care  and  make  them  associates  of  the  celebrated 
monastery  of  Clairvaulx.  This  the  Saint  did,  and,  as  has 
just  been  said,  he  then  sent  them  as  their  guide  the 

88 


"?**';^ 


'  :4    a 

•a      < 


i>iM 


Fountains 
experienced  brother  Geoffrey.  Thus  was  begun  the 
great  abbey  of  Fountains. 

The  little  band  quickly  grew ;  seventeen  new  brethren 
arrived  almost  at  the  same  time,  and  of  these  seven  were 
priests,  Alas!  the  resources  of  the  infant  community  did 
not  increase  with  their  numbers,  and  for  some  time  the 
lot  of  the  monks  of  Fountains  was  hard  and  indeed  well- 
nigh  impossible.  To  add  to  their  trials  and  misfortunes 
a  famine  everywhere  afflidled  the  land  at  that  time; 
although  the  abbot  went  out  of  his  valley  to  seek  for 
food  for  his  brethren,  it  was  not  forthcoming,  and  for 
a  while  at  least  the  community  had  to  subsist  as  best 
they  could  upon  the  leaves  of  the  trees  and  such  herbs 
as  could  be  found  in  their  valley.  Their  elm  tree,  as  the 
chronicle  says,  thus  at  this  time  furnished  them  with 
food  as  well  as  with  shelter. 

One  day,  so  the  story  goes,  whilst  in  the  straits  of 
poverty,  there  came  to  them  a  poor  man  asking  help  in 
Christ's  name.  The  porter  repHed  that  they  had  nothing 
to  give  and,  indeed,  were  themselves  in  absolute  need; 
but  on  the  poor  man  persisting  in  his  request  the  monk 
went  to  his  abbot  to  report  the  case.  The  abbot,  finding 
that  there  were  two  loaves  left  in  the  house,  ordered 
that  one  should  be  given  to  the  beggar  in  full  trust  that 
the  Lord  would  Himself  make  provision  for  His  ser- 
vants who  relied  upon  Him.  Nor  was  his  confidence 
disappointed,  for  within  a  brief  space  two  men  arrived 
from  Knaresborough  Castle  with  a  plentiful  supply  of 
food  for  all  the  brethren.  Recognizing  this  as  a  mani- 

89 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

festation  of  God's  goodness  to  them,  they  gave  to  Him 
thanks  "Who  gives  food  to  those  who  fear  Him." 

As  time  went  on,  the  situation  of  the  little  band  of 
monks  at  Fountains  became  intolerable.  Poverty  they 
had  wedded,  but  not  famine  and  destitution.  So  Abbot 
Richard  went  over  to  see  St  Bernard,  and  to  try  and  find 
some  place  in  fair  France,  where  they  might  be  able 
at  least  to  support  their  lives  whilst  serving  God.  But 
even  during  the  time  when  he  was  on  his  journey,  be- 
hold, the  long-looked-for  benefactor  appeared  at  Foun- 
tains in  the  person  of  Master  Hugh,  Dean  of  York,  who 
joined  the  community,  bringing  with  him  books,  money 
and  possessions.  Part  of  the  money  they  at  once  de- 
voted to  assist  the  poor;  part  they  reserved  for  their 
own  support,  and  part  they  employed  in  building  up 
their  monastery.  And,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  this  good 
fortune  did  not  come  alone:  first  another  canon  of  York, 
Serlo  by  name,  also  a  rich  man,  joined  the  community, 
and  then  a  second  canon,  called  Toste,  homo  jucundus 
et  sociabilis ^  a  pleasant  and  sociable  man,  as  he  is  called 
in  the  chronicle,  followed  his  example.  Other  blessings 
followed  in  swift  succession;  additions  were  made  to 
their  property  by  various  benefactors,  and  privileges 
were  granted  by  Kings  and  Popes. 

From  that  day,  writes  Serlo,  who  as  a  monk  was 
now  the  annalist  of  his  house, "  God  blessed  our  valleys 
with  the  blessing  of  heaven  above  and  of  the  deep  that 
lieth  under,  multiplying  our  brethren,  increasing  our 
possessions,  extending  our  vineyards  and  pouring  down 

90 


Fountains 
the  showers  of  His  benediftion  upon  us.  .  .  .  The  Lord, 
as  the  Prophet  said,  was  a  wall  round  about  us,  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left.  He  permitted  no  man 
to  hurt  us  and  He  blessed  the  works  of  our  hands. 
"  Oh  God !"  says  Serlo,  in  heartfelt  thanksgiving, "  What 
perfeftion  of  Hfe  was  there  not  at  this  time  at  Fountains! 
What  emulation  in  virtue!  What  fervour  in  keeping 
the  Rule!  What  discipline!  Our  Fathers  were  become 
a  spe6lacle  to  angels  and  to  men;  and  they  impressed 
on  their  posterity  that  method  of  holy  religious  life, 
which,  with  God's  help,  will  be  kept  here  for  ever." 
Soon  after  its  foundation  the  Abbey  of  Fountains  was 
called  on  to  send  out  colonies  to  begin  new  houses.  In 
1 137  a  nobleman  named  Ralph  de  Merlay,  after  spen- 
ding by  chance  a  day  at  Fountains,  determined  to  build  a 
similar  abbey  near  his  own  property  at  Morpeth.  The  re- 
sult was  the  establishment  of  Newminster  with  its  first 
abbot  from  Fountains.  In  time  the  house  became  the 
fruitful  mother  of  three  Cistercian  daughters  at  Pipe- 
well,  Sawley,  and  Roche.  The  next  year,  1 138,  Kirk- 
stead  Abbey  on  the  river  Witham  and  Louth  Park  was 
also  founded,  the  two  colonies  leaving  Fountains  on 
the  same  day.  Again  in  1 145,  at  the  prayer  of  Hugh 
de  Bolebec,  the  monks  of  Fountains  made  a  foundation 
at  Woburn.  And  in  1146  thirteen  of  the  brethren,  at 
the  invitation  of  the  bishop  of  Bergen  who  had  visited 
Fountains  and  was  charmed  with  it,  went  over  into 
Norway  and  etablished  the  monastery  at  Lisakloster. 
Their  leader  in  this  expedition  far  afield  was  Ralph, 

91 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
one  of  the  original  community  which  had  gone  out  from 
St  Mary's,  York.  In  his  old  age  Abbot  Ralph  returned 
to  Fountains  to  die,  and  it  is  pleasantly  said  in  the 
chronicle  that  there  by  God's  providence  "  an  angel  was 
specially  deputed  to  visit  and  console  him,  who  was  also 
wont  to  awaken  him  when  he  slept  too  long  at  night." 

In  the  following  year,  1147,  three  colonies  were 
despatched  from  the  prolific  house  of  Fountains ;  namely, 
Kirkstall,  Meaux  and  Vaudey;  and  thus  in  the  space 
of  less  than  twenty  years  St  Mary  of  Fountains  had 
established  eight  daughter  houses.  A  few  years  later 
the  Cistercian  General  Chapter  discouraged  this  multi- 
plication of  houses,  and  it  was  feared  that  the  Order 
had  been  growing  too  quickly  to  maintain  the  spiritual 
vigour  of  the  individual  monasteries. 

The  first  necessary  buildings  were  erefted  at  Foun- 
tains during  the  administration  of  the  first  two  abbots 
(i  1 32-1 139).  The  monk  Geoffrey,  who  it  will  be  re- 
membered was  sent  over  from  Clairvaulx  by  St  Bernard, 
showed  them  what  buildings  were  needed  by  Cistercians: 
the  great  cloister  with  the  church  on  the  north,  the 
Chapter  House  with  parlour  and  library  on  the  east,  with 
the  dormitory  above;  the  refe6tory,  calefactory  and  kit- 
chen on  the  south;  the  store-house  with  dormitory  for 
lay  brethren  on  the  west.  Outside  the  central  group  were 
infirmary,  guest  house,  mills,  bakehouse,  etc.  The  first 
buildings  were  partly  of  stone  and  partly  of  wood,  the 
stone  coming  from  the  rocky  sides  of  the  valley  in 

which  they  lived. 

92 


■L'Pij.i    iiur. 


Fountains 
.  About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  misfortune 
befell  the  abbey.  The  abbot,  Henry  Murdack,  became 
involved  in  certain  disputes  about  the  succession  to 
the  See  of  York:  one  party,  deeming  themselves  injured 
by  the  adherence  of  the  abbey  to  the  other  side,  made 
their  way  into  the  valley  and,  forcing  the  gates  of  the 
abbey,  sacked  it.  Much  was  ruthlessly  destroyed,  some 
things  plundered  and  carried  away,  the  rest  in  the 
spirit  of  wanton  waste  was  set  on  fire.  The  great  church, 
built  with  such  labour  and  at  such  a  cost,  was  burnt, 
and  the  very  altar  was  not  respected.  The  community, 
says  the  chronicler,  "  stood  about  their  holy  place  and 
saw  what  had  been  raised  by  the  sweat  of  their  own 
brows  consumed  to  ashes."  By  the  help  of  the  neigh- 
bours, however,  much  of  the  damage  was  quickly  re- 
paired, so  that  in  the  end  "the  new  was  better  than 
the  old." 

In  1 170  Robert  ot  Pipewell,  on  the  death  of  Abbot 
Richard,  was  chosen  to  rule  at  Fountains.  He  was  evi- 
dently a  powerful  administrator  and  is  praised  by  the 
author  of  the  chronicle  for  many  virtues.  He  is  espe- 
cially commended  for  his  zeal  in  beautifying  the  church 
and  "erecting  sumptuous  buildings,"  but  what  special 
part  he  added  we  are  not  told.  Three  abbots,  all  named 
John,  ruled  Fountains  during  the  first  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and  in  their  time  (i 203-1 247)  the 
fabric  of  the  house  was  completed.  The  number  of  the 
brethren,  even  at  the  beginning  of  this  period,  had  in- 
creased so  much  that  the  choir  was  found  to  be  too 

93 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
small  to  contain  them  and  the  altars  were  not  sufficient 
for  all  to  say  Mass.  It  was  at  the  time  when  Abbot  John, 
the  first  of  that  name,  ruled  the  community.  The  days 
were  evil,  and  it  was  at  this  period  that  King  John  was 
exafting  vast  sums  from  the  religious  houses  of  Eng- 
land, and  many  a  house  had  to  sell  even  its  altar  plate 
and  pledge  the  sacred  vestments  to  satisfy  the  royal 
rapacity.  Nevertheless,  although  many  considered  him 
rash,  the  abbot,  trusting  to  God's  providence,  deter- 
mined to  pull  down  the  east  part  of  the  church  and 
rebuild  it  on  lines  of  greater  magnificence.  To  his  large 
ideas  is  commonly  ascribed  the  new  chancel  and  the 
plan  of  the  chapel  of  the  nine  altars.  He  had  begun, 
and  had  even  erected  certain  columns  of  the  stru<5lure, 
when  he  died.  The  third  Abbot  John,  who  held  the 
government  for  twenty-seven  years,  completed  what 
his  predecessors  had  begun.  Indeed,  a  whole  series  of 
important  buildings  are  assigned  to  this  time,  including 
the  chapel  of  the  nine  altars,  the  new  choir,  the  re- 
construftion  of  the  cloister,  the  infirmary,  the  guest 
house,  the  pavement  of  the  church  with  tiles,  the  bake- 
house and  the  bridge. 

At  this  point  the  delightful  chronicle  of  Fountains 
fails  us,  but  the  stone  records  of  the  buildings  them- 
selves tell  us  that  little  was  done  to  the  material  fabric 
from  1 247,  the  date  of  the  death  of  Abbot  John  III,  till 
in  1479,  when  another  Abbot  John — John  Darnton — 
made  some  improvements  and  additions.  He  pulled  out 
the  old  windows  in  the  west  end  of  the  nave  and  in  the 

94 


A    BRIDGE,    I'OUNTAINS    ABBEY 


Fountains 
chapel  of  the  nine  altars,  and  put  in  decorated  ones  in 
their  place.  After  him,  quite  on  the  very  eve  of  the 
destrudlion  of  the  monastery.  Abbot  Marmaduke  Huby 
built  the  great  tower  which  still  looks  down  upon  the 
desecrated  building,  proclaiming  the  faith  of  those  who 
raised  it  to  God's  glory. 

The  end  came  to  Fountains  with  startling  sudden- 
ness. On  a  Sunday  in  July,  1536,  a  preacher  who  was 
maintaining  at  Jervaulx  that  the  King  was  head  of  the 
Church  was  interrupted  by  one  of  the  monks  from 
Fountains  who  happened  to  be  there.  Cistercians  could 
hold  no  such  new-fangled  doctrine ;  they  certainly  did 
not  teach  that  at  Fountains.  Parliament  had  just  sup- 
pressed the  lesser  monasteries,  and  although  it  had 
at  the  same  time  declared  that  the  greater  abbeys, 
of  which  Fountains  was  one,  were  above  suspicion, 
there  were  many  who  saw  in  the  fate  of  the  houses 
under  ^^200  a  year  a  presage  of  the  coming  general 
suppression.  Although,  as  we  now  know,  nothing  could 
have  warded  off  the  rising  storm,  it  was  no  doubt  a 
misfortune  for  Fountains  that  at  so  critical  a  time  it 
should  have  had  a  superior  neither  wise,  nor  compe- 
tent, nor  even  worthy.  Abbot  Thirsk's  deposition  had 
been  mooted  some  years  before,  and  he  was  accused  of 
dissipating  the  goods  of  his  house  and  of  not  seeing 
that  the  service  of  God  was  kept  at  Fountains  as  of  old. 
Layton  and  Legh,  the  King's  commissioners  in  1536, 
suggested  even  worse  things  about  him  and  compelled 
him   to  resign.  He  had  a  scanty  pension  assigned  to 

95 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
him,  and  took  refuge  at  Jervaulx;  there,  becoming  in- 
volved in  the  Pilgrimage  of   Grace  in  some  way  not 
quite  obvious,  he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn  as  the  easiest 
way  of  getting  rid  of  him  and  his  pension. 

On  Abbot  Thirsk's  deposition  the  office  was  pur- 
chased by  one  Marmaduke  Bradley  for  a  large  sum 
paid  to  Thomas  Crumwell,  the  King's  all-powerful 
minister.  The  commissioners  declare  that  he  was  one 
of  the  wisest  monks  in  England,  and  their  immediate 
proof  of  their  character  of  him  was  the  offer  he  made 
through  them  to  buy  the  abbey.  At  any  rate  Marma- 
duke Bradley  secured  a  good  pension  for  himself  by 
surrendering  the  house  into  the  King's  hands,  three 
years  after  his  appointment,  in  November,  1539. 

Then  began  the  destruction.  The  abbot  went  to 
Ripon,  where  he  held  a  prebendal  stall ;  but  the  prior 
and  his  thirty  brethren  were  quickly  expelled,  to  find 
their  own  way  in  the  world  and  to  face  the  coming 
winter.  They  were  despoiled  of  their  religious  habits, 
were  each  allotted  a  citizen's  gown,  and  were  then  set 
outside  their  own  gate  and  told  to  find  their  way  about 
a  world,  which  many  of  them  had  left  long  years  before, 
and  under  circumstances  for  which  they  were  ill  pre- 
pared. 

The  gold,  silver  and  other  precious  ornaments  of  the 
shrines  and  altars,  the  chalices  and  cups  and  "Jewells  " 
generally  were  collected  and,  with  the  best  of  the 
vestments  and  copes  and  albs,  were  sent  up  to  London. 
In  all  939  ounces  of  silver  and  thirteen  ounces  of  gold 

96 


Fountains 
with  precious  stones  were  thus  sent.  The  crowds,  which 
assembled  to  see  the  end,  as  at  the  daughter  house  of 
Roche,  no  doubt  helped  themselves  to  what  they  could 
lay  their  hands  upon;  the  servants  of  the  commissioners 
probably  took  more,  and  even  their  masters  did  not 
disdain  to  annex  an  article  or  two  of  the  plunder.  Then 
the  windows  and  doors  and  shutters  disappeared,  and 
the  bells  were  taken  down  and  broken  up  for  removal. 
Finally,  the  roofs — especially  where  there  was  lead — 
were  pulled  down,  and  in  the  choir  and  nave  of  the 
beautiful  church  huge  fires  were  made  from  the  wood  of 
the  stalls  and  screens  and  altars,  to  melt  down  the  lead 
into  pigs  and  fodders  against  the  coming  of  the  King's 
valuers.  When  all  was  counted  up,  it  was  found  that 
the  church  goods  fetched  only  >r6o  and  the  domestic 
goods  jri6o.  There  still  remained  on  the  ground  71 1 
fodders  of  lead  and  ten  bells,  weighing  io,ooolbs  in  all. 
As  regards  the  property,  Sir  Richard  Gresham,  father 
of  the  more  celebrated  Sir  Thomas,  wrote  to  Crumwell 
to  secure  from  the  King,  "  by  purchase  of  his  grace, 
certain  lands  belonging  to  the  house  of  Fountains,  to 

the  value  of  jCsS^  ^  y^^^»  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  °^  twenty 
years'  purchase."  "The  sum  of  money,"  he  adds, 
"amounteth  to  ^(^7,000."  What  the  value  of  the  lands 
really  was  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  one  obvious 
result  of  the  dissolution  was  the  wholesale  raising  of 
the  rents  previously  paid  by  the  monastic  tenants,  to 
the  great  detriment  of  the  poor.  An  instance  of  this 
hardship  may  be  cited  in  this  very  case  of  Fountains. 

97  7 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
The  King's  valuers,  in  1540,  placed  on  the  granges 
belonging  to  the  abbey,  which  had  previously  paid 
/'156  14s.  4d.,  an  increased  value  of  ^(^30,  or  nearly  a 
fifth.  Thirty-five  years  afterwards,  in  1575,  Gresham's 
increased  rental,  not  including  that  on  five  of  the 
granges,  was  ^\^  ys.  more  than  all  were  rented  at 
according  to  the  valuation  of  1 540,  or  a  rise  of  some 
fifty  per  cent  on  the  whole. 

The  editor  of  Tl>e  Memorials  of  Fountains  for  the 
Surtees  Society,  after  noticing  the  facts  given  above, 
says  that  it  "  will  show  that  the  monks  were  just  and 
merciful  landlords,  and  that  the  lament  of  the  fall  of 
the  abbeys  in  these  parts,  which  old  Henry  Jenkins 
lived  to  report  to  the  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads,  might 
have  partially  arisen  from  more  material  reasons  than 
a  change  of  religion." 


98 


CHAPTER  XI 

Glastonbury 

THE  name  of  Glastonbury  carries  the  Imagina- 
tion far  back  into  the  dim  past.  The  few  scat- 
tered and  grass-grown  ruins,  which  now  alone 
remain  of  the  once  vast  pile  of  buildings,  mark  the 
site  of  one  of  the  most  renowned  sanctuaries  of  the 
Christian  world.  The  history  of  this  sacred  spot  goes 
back  to  days  before  the  age  of  written  records,  for  it 
is  founded  upon  legends  which  connect  it  even  with 
some  of  the  first  disciples  of  our  Lord  Himself.  The 
story  of  the  place  is  told  in  song  and  prose,  in  fa6l  and 
fidlion,  in  the  legends  and  in  the  chronicles,  which 
relate  the  beginnings  of  the  English  people.  It  opens 
with  a  vision  of  a  venerable  man  from  the  tomb  of 
Christ,  bearing  with  him  the  Holy  Grail,  the  chaHce 
of  his  Master's  Supper,  and  planting  in  the  soil  of 
Somerset  his  staff  cut  from  some  Eastern  thorn.  Tenny- 
son thus  alludes  to  this  ancient  legend: 

The  cup,  the  cup  itself  from  which  our  Lord 
Dranlc  at  the  last  sad  Supper  with  his  own. 
This  from  the  blessed  land  of  Aramat, 
After  the  day  of  darkness,  when  the  dead 
Went  wandering  over  Moriah — the  good  Saint 
Arimathaean  Joseph,  journeying  brought 
To  Glastonbury,  where  the  winter  thorn 
Blossoms  at  Christmas,  mindful  of  our  Lord. 

99  7^ 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

And  the  long  story  of  the  place  ends  in  the  sixteenth 
century  with  the  violent  and  ignominious  death  of  an 
old  white-haired  monk,  the  last  of  a  long  and  honour- 
able succession  of  abbots,  by  order  of  an  English  king 
in  the  evil  days  of  Tudor  despotism. 

Between  St  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the  hero  of  Glaston- 
bury's earliest  legend,  and  Abbot  Richard  Whiting, 
the  vidim  of  an  English  king's  rapacity,  the  space  of 
wellnigh  fifteen  centuries  intervened;  and  Chalice  Hill 
and  Tor  Hill,  which  still  look  down  upon  the  ruins, 
and  the  very  names  of  which  are  associated  with  him 
who  brought  the  Holy  Grail  to  our  shores,  and  with 
him  whose  gallows  crowned  the  height  by  St  Michael's 
tower,  have  been  silent  witnesses  during  all  those  cen- 
turies of  a  great  and  varied  history.  The  memories  of 
the  British  Inyswytryn,  the  Saxon  Glsestingburge,  the 
modern  Glastonbury,  or  as  it  was  sometimes  called  the 
isle  of  Avalon,  include  the  names  of  Arthur,  the  British 
hero,  and  of  Alfred,  the  saviour  of  the  Saxon  race  from 
the  ferocity  and  rapacity  of  the  Danes.  Hither  too 
came  Gildas,  from  his  hermitage  on  the  Steep  Holme 
away  across  the  waters  of  the  Channel,  to  reconcile 
Arthur  to  his  Queen  Guinevere.  And  hither  also: 

To  the  island-valley  of  Avilion; 
Where  falls  not  hail,  or  rain  or  any  snow. 
Nor  even  vi^ind  blows  loudly;  but  it  lies 
Deep-meadow'd,  happy,  fair  with  orchard  lawns 
And  bowery  hollows,  crown'd  with  summer  sea. 

Hither  came  Arthur,  when  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Camlin,  to  die  and  seek  for  burial  by  the  side  of  his 

lOO 


Glastonbury 

Qiieen,  who  had  already  been  laid  to  rest  within  the 
precindls  of  that  San6tuary.  Here,  centuries  later,  in 
1 191,  King  Henry  II  caused  to  be  made  an  examina- 
tion of  the  spot  pointed  out  by  the  Welsh  bards  as  the 
place  of  Arthur's  burial,  and  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
who  professes  to  have  been  an  eyewitness,  describes 
the  finding  of  a  large  flat  stone  with  a  leaden  cross 
underneath,  bearing  in  rude  charadters  the  inscrip- 
tion: Hie  jacet  sepultus  inclitus  rex  Arturius  in  insula 
Avalonia. 

Beneath  this  again  there  was  discovered  a  large  coffin 
of  hollowed  oak  with  two  cavities,  one  containing  the 
bones  of  Arthur,  the  other  those  of  Guinevere.  They 
were  removed  to  a  handsome  tomb  in  the  church, 
where  they  remained  undisturbed  till  1278,  when 
Edward  I  and  his  Queen,  Eleanor,  kept  Easter  at  the 
abbey.  On  that  occasion  the  King  desiring  to  see  with 
his  own  eyes  the  relics  of  the  illustrious  British  King 
and  his  Consort,  ordered  the  tomb  to  be  opened.  Edward 
himself  took  out  the  relics  of  Arthur;  carrying  these, 
and  Eleanor  those  of  Guinevere,  with  much  ceremony 
they  bore  them  to  the  High  Altar,  where  the  people 
were  allowed  to  inspeft  them. 

In  faft  Glastonbury  was  already  old  in  its  traditions, 
and  its  memory  was  venerable  in  its  legends  before  the 
Briton  gave  place  to  the  Saxon.  When,  some  time 
about  the  year  650,  the  shrine  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Saxon  conqueror,  these  later  were  no  longer 
pagan  idolaters  but  Christian  warriors,  who  venerated 


lOI 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  sacred  traditions  of  the  spot  no  less  than  had  the 
conquered  Britons. 

One  relic  of  this  early  time  was  preserved  through 
the  course  of  the  centuries  even  until  the  destruction 
of  the  monastery  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  According 
to  tradition,  St  David  of  Menevia  came  to  Inyswytryn, 
as  Glastonbury  w^as  called  in  British  times,  bring- 
ing with  him  precious  gifts  and  offerings  and,  it  is  said, 
anxious  to  make  the  sanctuary  his  last  resting-place. 
To  show  his  veneration  he  proposed  to  dedicate  the 
church  to  our  Blessed  Lady,  but  was  admonished  in  a 
dream  of  the  supernatural  consecration  of  the  shrine  at 
its  first  erection.  St  David  thereupon  built  a  second 
church  near  to  the  ancient  wooden  one,  and  dedicated 
it  to  the  Mother  of  God.  To  this  sacred  place  he  made 
an  offering  of  a  rich  altar  stone  of  sapphire  adorned 
with  gold  and  costly  gems,  a  present  from  the  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  and  this  precious  gift  survived  to  the  end 
in  the  possession  of  the  Abbey.  During  the  contests  be- 
tween Saxon  and  Dane,  which  caused  such  havoc  and 
destruction  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  this  "Sapphire  altar"  was  concealed,  and  for  a 
time  its  hiding-place  appears  to  have  been  forgotten. 
Subsequently,  however,  the  stone  was  discovered  in  a 
recess  of  the  old  church,  and  it  appears  as  one  of  the 
abbey's  most  treasured  possessions  in  the  inventory 
drawn  up  by  the  commissioners  appointed  by  Henry 
VIII  to  seize  the  property  of  the  abbey  in  1539. 
"  Item,"  it  is  recorded,  "dely  vered  unto  his  majestic  .  .  . 


102 


Giastonhtiry 
a  superatare  garnished  with  silver  and  gilt,  called  the 
Great  saphire  of  Glasgonburge." 

During  the  Saxon  period  the  abbey  increased  in  re- 
nown and  in  influence:  it  became  indeed  the  centre 
of  Christianity  in  southern  and  western  England.  Al- 
though we  have  little  direct  proof  of  the  fact,  it  seems 
almost  certain  that  wandering  Irish  scholars  came  over 
to  Glastonbury,  tarried  and  taught  there  for  a  while, 
and  departing  left  behind  them  their  books  and  treatises 
to  be  the  treasured  possessions  of  future  generations 
cf  scholars.  The  sanctuary,  probably  by  reason  of  its 
position,  escaped  complete  destruction  at  the  hands  of 
the  Danes,  who  passed  over  the  country  wrecking  and 
plundering  monasteries  and  churches  and  overthrowing 
the  Christian  altars.  It  suffered,  however,  greatly:  and 
it  was  at  this  period,  at  the  lowest  depth  of  his  ill- 
fortune,  that  King  Alfred  sought  shelter  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood and,  at  least  according  to  legend,  found 
strength  and  courage  to  make  his  successful  stand 
against  the  dreaded  Dane  in  a  vision  which  came  to 
him  in  the  sanctuary  at  Glastonbury. 

In  the  tenth  century  the  abbey  was  ruled  by  one 
who  not  only  shed  a  glory  over  it  by  the  holiness  of 
his  life  and  by  his  abilities,  but  who  was  also  called 
upon  to  shape  the  destinies  of  his  country.  This  was 
the  celebrated  St  Dunstan,  who,  born  almost  under  the 
shadow  of  the  monastery,  in  his  youth  became  a  monk 
there.  He  subsequently  as  abbot  did  much  to  rebuild 
the  walls  of  the  sanctuary,  and  to  implant  in  the  souls 

103 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
of  his  brethren  a  love  for  the  true  principles  of  the 
Benedictine  method  of  life.  For  a  while  Dunstan,  de- 
stined for  a  more  extended  sphere  of  usefulness,  found 
peace  and  true  happiness  in  the  secluded  cloister  life  at 
Glastonbury.  His  biographers  picture  him  for  us  as 
sitting  in  the  corridors  of  the  abbey  with  the  brethren; 
as  walking  with  a  companion  about  the  enclosure  lean- 
ing on  a  staff;  as  visiting  the  cells  and  offices  to  see 
that  all  was  in  order;  as  superintending  the  building 
and  ornamentation  of  the  abbey  which  under  his  care 
was  then  rising  from  its  ruins;  as  even  personally  watch- 
ing over  the  arrangements  of  the  kitchen  and  other  do- 
mestic concerns;  or  as  rising  before  the  day  had  dawned 
to  copy,  study  or  revise  the  manuscripts  of  his  house, 
or  to  kneel  motionless  in  the  church  with  hands  lifted 
heavenwards  and  face  moist  with  tears.  All  agree  in 
describing  his  kindly  genial  demeanour  to  others,  his 
gentle  yet  firm  method  of  teaching  and  his  special  love 
for  boys.  After  a  period  of  perhaps  fifteen  years  spent 
in  his  beloved  home  at  Glastonbury,  and  in  his  best- 
loved  occupations  of  the  cloistered  life,  Dunstan  became 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  then  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. But  amidst  all  the  occupations  for  Church  and 
State  which  engrossed  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  he 
never  forgot  his  monastic  home,  and  his  name  has  ever 
been  irrevocably  associated  with  Glastonbury. 

During  the  closing  period  of  the  struggle  between 
Saxon  and  Dane  in  England,  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
eleventh  century,  the  sanctuary  was  honoured  by  the 

104 


Glastonbury 
monarchs  of  both  dynasties.  Edmund  Ironside  enriched 
the  abbey  with  land  and  possessions  and  when,  after 
valiant  though  vain  struggles,  he  died  for  his  Saxon 
fatherland,  his  body  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  spot  he  had 
chosen  for  his  tomb  in  St  Dunstan's  Church.  To 
Glastonbury  also  in  1030  came  King  Canute,  his 
Danish  successor:  and  here,  after  confirming  every  gift 
and  privilege  granted  to  the  place  by  his  Saxon  pre- 
decessors, he  knelt  in  prayer  at  the  tomb  of  his  rival 
and  spread  over  it  a  covering  enriched  with  the  em- 
broidery of  skilled  Saxon  ladies.  Ten  years  later  King 
Hardicanute  testified  his  devotion  to  the  hallowed  spot 
by  the  present  of  a  superb  shrine  to  hold  the  relics  of 
St  Benignus. 

The  Norman  Conquest  brought  difficulties  in  the 
government  of  the  house.  It  was  part  of  the  Conqueror's 
policy  to  replace  Saxon  bishops  and  abbots  by  Nor- 
man prelates  wherever  this  could  be  done.  So  here, 
at  Glastonbury,  the  Saxon  abbot  Ailnoth  was  made  to 
give  place  to  the  Norman  Thurstan.  Ailnoth  and 
several  of  the  monks  of  his  house  were  interred  by 
Lanfranc's  order  at  Canterbury  and  at  the  same  time  a 
not  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  monastic  estate  was 
distributed  amongst  the  foreign  followers  of  William. 
The  imposition  of  Norman  superiors  over  them  must 
obviously  have  been  everywhere  distasteful  to  the 
English  monks.  The  very  presence  in  their  midst  of  an 
alien  abbot  was  a  standing  reminder  of  the  fallen  for- 
tunes of  the  English  race;  and  in  the  case  of  Glaston- 

105 


The  Greater  Ahhejs 
bury  this  not  unnatural  resentment  was  aggravated  by 
the  imperious  temper  and  inconsiderate  disposition  of 
the  individual  chosen  by  the  King  to  rule  them,  and  by 
his  determination  to  uproot  all  old  English  customs 
and  traditions,  in  order  to  impose  upon  them  what 
at  least  the  monks  considered  to  be  new-fangled  Nor- 
man notions  of  monasticism.  An  attempt  made  to  force 
the  Glastonbury  monks  to  adopt  the  chant  of  one 
William  of  Fescamp  in  place  of  what  they  had  been 
accustomed  to,  and  which  rightly  or  wrongly  they  re- 
garded as  the  music  they  had  received  from  Rome  itself, 
led  to  a  refusal  of  the  monks  to  obey  in  this  matter. 
Abbot  Thurstan  sent  for  armed  laymen  into  the  Chap- 
ter House  to  coerce  them  by  a  show  of  force.  The 
monks  took  refuge  in  the  church,  out  of  which  the 
abbot's  armed  men  strove  to  drag  them.  This  at  first 
failed,  and  the  monks  took  refuge  in  the  sanctuary, 
only  to  be  fired  upon  by  the  arrows  of  the  Frenchmen. 
In  the  end  the  laymen  rushed  in  and  regardless  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  place  "slew  some  of  the  monks  and 
wounded  many  more,  so  that  blood  ran  down  from  the 
altar  on  to  the  steps,  and  from  the  steps  to  the  floor." 
"Three,"  adds  the  chronicle,  "were  smitten  to  death 
and  eighteen  wounded." 

The  horror  caused  by  this  scandal  led  to  the  removal 
of  Abbot  Thurstan  by  order  of  William  the  Conqueror; 
and  for  a  time  there  was  peace.  The  Norman  abbot, 
however,  abided  his  time  at  Caen,  and  taking  advan- 
tage of  King  Rufus's  empty  coffers,  he  offered  that 

io6 


Glastonbury 
monarch  500  pounds  of  silver  for  permission  to  return  to 
Glastonbury.  His  reappearance  immediately  brought 
on  fresh  disturbances.  Many  of  the  monks  sought  shelter 
in  neighbouring  monasteries,  and  did  not  return  until 
the  appointment  of  Herlewyn  on  Thurstan's  death. 

In  1 1 26  Henry  of  Blois,  the  nephew  of  King 
Henry  I,  became  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  and  although 
he  was  made  Bishop  of  Winchester  after  only  three 
years  of  rule,  he  obtained  leave  to  retain  the  emolu- 
ments of  his  abbacy.  He  lived  to  enjoy  these  revenues 
for  forty-five  years,  but  in  the  main  he  spent  them  upon 
the  reconstruction  of  the  church  and  monastery.  Adam 
of  Domerham,the  chronicler  of  the  house,  records  that 
"he  built  the  bell  tower,  the  Chapter  House,  cloister, 
lavatory,  refectory  and  dormitory;  also  the  infirmary 
with  its  chapel;  a  splendid  large  palace;  a  spacious  gate- 
way, remarkable  for  its  squared  stones;  a  large  brew- 
house,  and  stables  for  many  horses."  These  he  erected 
right  from  the  foundation  to  their  completion,  and 
over  and  "  besides  these  works  he  gave  many  princely 
ornaments  to  the  Church." 

King  Henry  II  refused  to  allow  the  monks  to  elect 
a  superior  on  the  death  of  Bishop  de  Blois,  but  sent  an 
official  to  manage  the  monastic  revenues,  which  he  kept 
in  his  own  hands.  During  this  time,  and,  indeed,  not 
very  long  after  the  death  of  the  bishop,  a  fire  destroyed 
most  of  the  monastic  buildings.  This  happened  in  1 1 84, 
and  the  old  monastic  chronicler  thus  bemoans  the  dis- 
aster: "In  the  following  summer,  that  is  to  say  on  St 

107 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Urban's  day  [May  25,  1 1 84],  the  whole  of  the  mona- 
stery, except  a  chamber  constructed  in  the  Chapel  by 
Abbot  Robert,  into  which  the  monks  afterwards  be- 
took themselves,  and  the  bell-tower  built  by  Bishop 
Henry,  was  consumed  by  fire.  The  beautiful  buildings 
lately  erected  by  Henry  of  Blois  and  the  Church, a  place 
so  venerated  by  all  and  the  shelter  of  so  many  saints, 
were  reduced  to  ashes.  What  sorrow  was  suffered !  What 
groans  arose !  What  tears  were  shed  as  the  monks  saw 
what  had  taken  place,  and  pondered  over  the  losses  they 
had  suffered.  Their  precious  treasures,  not  only  the  gold 
and  silver,  but  the  stuffs  and  silks,  the  books  and  other 
ecclesiastical  ornaments  were  thrown  into  a  state  of  con- 
fusion which  must  bring  tears  to  the  eyes  even  of  those 
who  far  away  do  but  hear  of  these  things." 

King  Henry  II,  determined  to  restore  Glastonbury 
out  of  the  monastic  revenues  which  he  still  kept  in  his 
hands,  and  which  were  administered  by  the  King's 
official,  FitzStephen.  In  the  royal  charter  granted  in 
1 1 84  Henry  says :  "  I,  laying  the  foundation  of  the  church 
at  Glastonbury,  which  was  reduced  to  ashes  whilst  it 
was  in  my  hands,  have  determined  to  repair  it  either 
by  myself  or  my  heirs."  Up  to  the  time  of  the  fire  the 
old  church  or  lady  chapel  had  remained,  as  originally 
built,  a  wooden  structure.  According  to  a  tradition  in 
the  place,  St  Paulinus  had  not  dared  to  touch  what 
even  in  his  day  was  regarded  as  a  most  sacred  monu- 
ment of  antiquity,  and  to  preserve  it  had  cased  it  in 
boards  lined  with  lead.  When,  in  708,  Ina  King  of 


108 


'^ 


Glastonbury 

Wessex  had  granted  his  charter  of  privileges  to  the 
abbey,  in  order  to  render  the  act  more  solemn,  he 
signed  it  in  the  lignea  Basilica^  which,  following  the 
advice  of  St  Aldhelm,  he  refrained  from  attempting 
even  to  beautify.  This  cherished  relic  of  antiquity  was 
totally  destroyed  by  the  fire  of  1 1 84,  and  upon  the 
site  of  the  old  wooden  structure  was  built  the  present 
lady  chapel,  now  often  miscalled  "St  Joseph's  Chapel." 
This  beautiful  specimen  of  thirteenth-century  Gothic 
architecture  was  finished  in  1 2 1 6,  and  the  chronicler, 
Adam  de  Domerham,  thus  records  the  fact:  "He  [King 
Henry  II]  completed  the  church  of  squared  stones  of 
the  most  splendid  work,  in  the  place  where  from  the 
beginning  the  old  church  had  stood,  sparing  nothing 
that  could  add  to  its  ornamentation." 

The  greater  church,  dedicated  to  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul,  was  only  beginning  to  rise  from  its  ashes  when 
Henry  died.  This  delayed  the  progress  of  reconstruc- 
tion, and  the  vast  building  of  which  only  a  very  in- 
adequate idea  may  be  formed  by  the  ivy-grown  arcaded 
walls,  the  pointed  windows  and  great  piers,  which  lift 
two  portions  of  a  springing  keyless  arch  skyward,  was 
carried  out  by  a  succession  of  abbots  during  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries.  "  Standingon  the  green- 
sward in  the  centre  of  the  nave,  in  front  of  the  ruins 
of  the  great  arch,"  says  a  modern  writer,  "  the  eye 
cannot  help  filling  in  the  missing  structure.  Three 
other  great  arches  rise  up  to  join  their  survivor,  and  to 

support  the  vaulting  of  the  central  tower,  the  transepts 

109 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
with  triforium  and  clerestory  branch  off  right  and  left, 
through  the  screen  with  its  rood  "  and  Mary  and  John, 
"  the  vista  of  the  choir  converges  on  the  High  Altar  and 
reredos,  upon  which  the  mellow  light  of  the  windows 
beyond  cast  soft  blended  colour.  The  twenty  pillars  of 
the  nave  lift  up  their  arches  to  the  arcading  of  the  tri- 
forium, from  which  springs  the  decorated  groining  of 
the  roof  ;  tracery  and  moulding,  panel  and  shaft,  colour 
and  gold,  tomb  and  brass  fill  in  the  picture ;  surely 
these  are  mailed  knights  kneeling,  and  sturdy  burghers, 
and  women  in  homespun,  and  arch-eyed  children  scat- 
tered over  the  glistening  tiles  of  the  pavement ;  the 
hooded  monks  glide  in,  the  sanctuary  glitters  with  silk 
and  embroidery,  the  organ  rolls  its  echoes  through  the 
arches,  chasing  the  fumes  of  the  incense.  A  sudden 
hush,  and  the  reverie  has  ended,  and  you  stand,  with 
the  blue  sky  above,  on  the  soft  greensward  of  the  nave 
leading  up  grass-green  steps  to  the  soft  sward  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  great  arch  looks  down  on  you  while 
ivy  and  shrub  cling  to  their  foot-hold  in  its  mouldings 
and  crumbling  masonry." 

If  the  reconstruction  of  the  church  of  Glastonbury 
after  the  fire  went  on  slowly  enough  during  the  two 
hundred  years  that  followed  the  catastrophe,  the  abbots 
who  ruled  the  destinies  of  the  abbey  during  that  period 
and  after,  vie  with  one  another  in  collecting  plate 
and  jewels,  missals  and  choir-books,  vestments  and 
copes  and  hangings  with  which  to  render  the  cere- 
^monial  at  Glastonbury  more  worthy  of  the  worship 


no 


Glastonbury 
carried  out  within  the  newly  built-up  walls,  and  to 
make  the  place  resplendent  with  all  that  art  and  skill 
and  English  craft  could  produce.  As  one  reads  the  lists 
of  precious  gifts  and  cunningly  fashioned  plate,  of  the 
silks  and  brocades  embroidered  by  English  artists  and 
enriched  with  needlework  imagery  and  ornament,  one 
can  but  sigh  to  think  of  the  wanton  destruction  which 
swept  away  all  these  art  treasures  without  leaving  even 
a  trace  of  a  collection  which  must  have  been  second  to 
none  of  the  ecclesiastical  treasuries  of  Europe. 

The  end  came  to  the  glories  of  Glastonbury  as  it 
came  to  the  rest  of  the  monastic  establishments  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  On  a  charge  of  resisting  the 
King's  desires,  the  venerable  abbot,  Richard  Whiting, 
doomed  to  death  before  inquiry,  was  hanged  with  two 
of  his  brethren  on  the  hill  which  still  overlooks  the 
ruins  of  this  once-famous  abbey. 


Ill 


T 


CHAPTER  XII 

Gloucester 

^TP^HE  waters  of  the  Severn  seem  in  olden  times 
to  have  possessed  some  subtle  attraction  for 
the  Order  of  St  Benedict.  On  the  river's  banks, 
or  at  any  rate  in  the  valley  from  which  it  collects  its 
tributary  streams,  from  Gloucester  to  Shrewsbury,  stood 
Tewkesbury,  Pershore,  Evesham,  Malvern,  and  Wor- 
cester— seven  as  fine  and  as  glorious  monasteries  as  it 
is  possible  to  find  in  England.  Gloucester,  the  first  in 
order,  is  in  many  ways  the  finest  of  this  series;  of  some 
of  them,  alas!  little  now  remains  to  show  what  they 
were  in  the  days  of  their  glory.  The  external  effect  of 
Gloucester  is  somewhat  marred  by  the  long  depressed 
roof  of  the  nave,  which  is  set  at  a  level  lower  than 
that  of  the  choir  and  presbytery,  but  the  superb  central 
tower,  which  is  crowned  with  open-work  parapets  and 
pinnacles,  prevents  the  eye  from  dwelling  on  this  defect. 
"  Gloucester,"  says  a  modern  writer,  "contains  some  of 
the  choicest  triumphs  of  Gothic  art,  and  numerous 
instances  of  the  most  ingenious  contrivances  of  me- 
chanical ability,  taste  and  skill." 

The  abbey  of  St  Peter's,  Gloucester,  was  founded  in 
Saxon  times  about  the  year  679;  and  in  process  of  time 
it  counted  no  fewer  than  five  cells  under  its  jurisdiction, 

112 


Gloucester 

Ewias,  Ewenny,  Hereford,  Kilpeck  and  Bromfield. 
Wulphere,  the  first  Christian  King  of  Mercia,  is  said 
to  have  commenced  the  work,  which  was  carried  on 
by  his  brother  and  successor  Ethelred,  who  somewhat 
later  laid  aside  his  crown  to  become  a  monk  at  Bard- 
ney.  History  relates  that  in  order  to  insure  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  work  after  he  had  taken  the  cowl,  he 
employed  his  nephew  Osric,  who  ultimately,  by  the 
advice  and  help  of  Archbishop  Theodore  and  of  Basil, 
first  bishop  of  Worcester,  constituted  his  sister  Kyne- 
burgh  the  first  abbess.  She  was  blessed  by  Bishop  Basil, 
and  ruled  the  convent  of  St  Peter's,  Gloucester,  for 
twenty-nine  years. 

To  Kyneburgh  succeeded  Edburga,  widow  of  Wul- 
phere, the  original  founder  of  Gloucester.  She  resigned 
her  royal  state,  and  in  time,  becoming  second  abbess  of 
St  Peter's  and  ruling  it  for  twenty-five  years,  was 
buried  near  her  predecessor  Kyneburgh  in  735.  She 
was  followed  in  her  ofKce  by  Eva,  the  wife  of  Wulfere. 
son  of  Penda,  who  died  and  was  buried  at  Gloucester 
in  767. 

From  this  time  the  abbesses  disappear  from  history. 
During  the  wars  which  now  commenced  between 
Egbert,  King  of  Wessex  and  the  Mercians,  the  nuns 
are  supposed  to  have  left  their  convent,  and  for  a 
period  of  more  than  fifty  years  it  remained  deserted. 
After  that  time,  when  King  Bearnulph  of  Mercia 
came  to  the  throne,  seeing  the  desolate  state  of  the 
place,  he  rebuilt  the  monastery,  but  changed  it  into 

113  8 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
a  house  or  college  for  secular  priests.  This  arrangement 
continued  till  1022,  when  King  Canute,  on  the  repre- 
sentation of  St  Wulstan,  bishop  of  Worcester,  placed 
Benedictine  monks  there,  and  Edric  was  blessed  as  the 
first  abbot  of  Gloucester. 

At  first  the  foundation  did  not  appear  to  prosper, 
and  it  was  not  until  William  the  Conqueror  in  1072 
appointed  a  Norman  monk,  Serlo,  that  the  success  of 
the  work  seems  to  have  been  secured.  At  his  accession 
Serlo  is  said  to  have  found  but  two  monks  of  full  age 
and  eight  youths  in  the  house,  and  at  his  death  in  1 104 
to  have  left  a  hundred  professed  religious.  In  1082 
William  the  Conqueror  passed  Christmas  time  at  the 
monastery,  and  three  years  later  the  church  was  burnt, 
with  a  considerable  part  of  the  city,  by  the  adherents  of 
Robert  of  Normandy.  Abbot  Serlo  set  himself  to  repair 
the  loss  with  characteristic  energy  ;  on  June  29,  1089, 
the  first  stone  was  laid,  and  on  July  15,11 00,  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  new  church  was  celebrated  by  the  bishops 
of  Worcester,  Rochester,  Hereford,  and  Bangor.  The 
Norman  pillars  of  the  nave  built  at  this  time  still  sur- 
vive. They  are  round,  and  so  gigantic  that  they  seem 
to  dwarf  the  triforium  and  clerestory.  This  last  has  been 
converted  into  the  early  English  style  when  the  vault- 
ing was  erected.  The  original  ground  plan  of  the  Nor- 
man church  remains  a  marked  feature  of  Gloucester, 
and  may  be  noticed  in  the  short  transepts  with  eastern 
apsidal  chapels  and  those  of  the  apse. 

Ordericus  Vitalis  relates  that   it  was  a  monk   of 

114 


GLOUCESTER    CATHEDRAL :     THE    CHOIR 


Gloucester 
Gloucester  who  warned  William  Rufus  of  his  ap- 
proaching end  in  the  New  Forest.  The  King  refused 
to  listen,  and  speaking  of  Abbot  Serlo's  letter  to  his 
attendants,  he  said:  "I  wonder  why  my  Lord  Serlo  has 
been  minded  to  write  this  to  me,  for  he  is,  I  believe, 
a  good  abbot  and  a  judicious  old  man?  In  his  extreme 
simplicity  he  sends  to  me,  busied  with  so  many  affairs, 
the  dreams  of  his  snoring  monks,  and  from  a  long  dis- 
tance has  even  sent  them  to  me  in  writing.  Does  he 
suppose  that  I  follow  the  example  of  the  English,  who 
will  defer  their  journey  or  their  business  for  the  dreams 
of  wheezing  old  women  ? "  Thus  speaking,  says  the 
chronicle,  the  King  rose  hastily  and  departed  on  his 
hunting  expedition  in  which  he  met  his  death. 

Abbot  Serlo  was  succeeded  in  1 1 04  by  Peter,  the 
former  prior  of  the  house.  Peter  had  long  devoted  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  him  the 
obituary  notice  says  that  during  his  term  of  office  he 
"  encompassed  the  monastery  with  a  wall  and  enriched 
the  cloister  with  a  number  of  books."  There  exists  a 
remarkable  memorial  of  Abbot  Peter  in  the  Art  Mu- 
seum of  South  Kensington;  it  is  a  candlestick  of  splen- 
did workmanship,  the  date  of  which  is  known  with 
certainty.  An  inscription  on  it  states  that  it  was  made 
by  the  Abbot  Peter  for  his  church  at  Gloucester.  It  is  of 
latten  richly  gilt  and  most  elaborately  ornamented,  and 
it  is  undoubtedly  a  wonderful  specimen  of  English  art 
of  the  period.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  it  did  not 
remain  long  at  Gloucester,  as  in  1 122  a  disastrous  fire 

115  ^a 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
again  broke  out  there,  which  destroyed  everything 
except  a  few  books  and  vestments,  and  in  this  fire  the 
candlestick  would  probably  have  perished.  At  some 
subsequent  period  this  great  work  of  art  was  given  to 
the  cathedral  of  Mans,  the  canons  of  which  church  sold 
it,  and  in  process  of  time  it  was  purchased  by  the  South 
Kensington  authorities. 

During  the  twelfth  century  the  abbey  of  St  Peter's, 
Gloucester,  continued  to  grow  and  to  assert  and  defend 
its  privileges  under  a  succession  of  worthy  abbots,  of 
whom  Gilbert  Foliot,  subsequently  bishop  of  Hereford 
and  London,  was  one.  During  the  reign  of  King  John, 
the  monastery  suffered  grievously  by  the  seizure  of  its 
goods,  and  by  the  sale  of  its  plate  to  meet  the  frequent 
royal  demands  for  subsidies.  In  1 2 1 6  the  abbey  church 
was  the  scene  of  great  festivities  at  the  coronation  of  the 
youthful  King  Henry  III,  and  in  1222,  exactly  a  cen- 
tury after  the  great  fire  already  mentioned,  another  and 
third  disastrous  fire  broke  out  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  monastery.  This  same  year  the  great  Eastern  Tower 
of  the  church  was  completed.  In  1 2  3 9,  on  September  1 6, 
amidst  an  immense  concourse  of  spectators,  Walter 
Cantilupe,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  dedicated  the  church, 
now  once  more  rebuilt,  to  St  Peter.  Henceforth  the 
anniversary  of  this  festival  day  was  kept  at  Gloucester 
as  if  it  were  a  Sunday.  Three  years  later  again  (1242) 
the  vaulting  of  the  nave  was  finished  by  the  monks 
themselves,  they  doing  the  actual  work  and  not  em- 
ploying stone-workers  and  setters.  At  the  same  time 


116 


Gloucester 
the  prior  undertook  the  erection  of  a  tower  to  the  south- 
west side  of  the  church. 

To  continue  the  history  of  the  building:  in  i  3 1 8  the 
south  aisle  was  groined.  The  interment  of  Edward  II 
by  the  abbot  of  Gloucester,  after  Malmesbury,  Kings- 
wood,  and  Bristol  had  refused  to  find  a  tomb  for  the 
dead  King,  led  to  a  great  accession  of  revenue,  and  the 
buildings  manifest  the  result.  The  Norman  walls  of  the 
south  aisle  were  cased  with  tracery  in  the  period  from 
1329  to  1337;  the  choir  was  vaulted  and  a  range  of 
stalls  were  added  (i  337-5  0»  ^^^  lower  part  of  the 
central  tower;  the  casing  of  the  north  aisle  with 
tracery;  the  south  stalls;  the  presbytery  with  screens 
(1351-77).  This  ended  the  work  of  the  fourteenth 
century  upon  the  church  fabric.  In  the  period  between 
1420  and  1437,  the  west  front,  two  western  bays  of 
the  nave  and  the  south  porch  were  completed.  The 
central  tower  was  finished  in  the  years  1459-60,  and 
the  wonderful  lady  chapel — a  perfect  poem  in  stone — 
was  slowly  built  up  during  the  forty  years  from 
1457-98.  The  sedilia  and  the  tiling  were  the  last 
works  executed  by  the  monks  (1513-34).  The  ex- 
tremely beautiful  cloister  with  its  exquisite  fan  tra- 
cery— the  earliest  in  England — was  built  between 
I  35  I  and  1412. 

During  the  fourteenth  century  many  vestments, 
church  service  books  and  pieces  of  precious  plate  were 
bestowed  upon  the  abbey.  Of  one  abbot  it  is  said  that 
he  obtained  for  the  sacrist  a  large  gilt  chahce,  an  image 

117 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

of  the  Virgin  in  ivory,  a  crystal  vessel  with  a  silver 
foot  for  holding  relics,  several  vestments  and  ecclesi- 
astical ornaments,  a  volume  of  the  legends  of  the  saints, 
together  with  other  books.  Another  abbot,  Thomas 
Horton,  who  had  been  sacrist,  presented  "many  books, 
vestments,  and  vessels  of  silver,  also  four  silver  basins 
for  the  High  Altar,  two  large  ones  for  occasions  when 
the  abbot  celebrated  Mass,  and  two  small  ones  for  the 
use  of  a  priest  when  he  should  celebrate;  also  two  silver 
candlesticks  for  the  same  altar,  and  a  gold  chalice;  also 
a  silver  vessel  for  holy  water,  with  a  silver  aspergill; 
also  a  silver  cross,  gilt,  to  place  on  the  altar  when  the 
abbot  celebrated;  also  a  silver  pastoral  staff.  There  were 
also  purchased  two  sets  of  vestments." 

In  1378  a  parliament  was  held  at  Gloucester.  It 
commenced  on  October  22  and  lasted  till  December  16. 
During  the  session  the  King  remained  sometimes  at 
Gloucester  abbey  and  sometimes  in  that  of  Tewkesbury. 
At  all  times  during  these  two  months  the  crowd  was 
so  great  that  the  monks  were  put  to  no  little  incon- 
venience and  expense.  The  detailed  account  which  has 
come  down  to  us  says  that  at  times  the  place  "seemed 
more  like  a  fair  than  a  religious  house,"  and  it  notes 
that  the  grass-plot  of  the  cloister  was  so  trodden  by  the 
visitors  playing  games  that  not  a  vestige  of  green  could 
be  seen  when  the  session  of  Parliament  came  to  an  end. 

On  the  Sunday  before  the  close  of  the  parliament. 
High  Mass  was  sung  by  the  abbot  of  Gloucester  in  the 
presence  of  the  King,  the  two  archbishops,  twelve 
bishops  and  many  noblemen.  After  Mass  the  King  was 

118 


CI.OISTKK    AND    LAVATOKIUM,    GLOfCl:;STER    CATHEDRAL 


Gloucester 

entertained  in   the   refectory  at  a  magnificent  repast, 
"set  out  with  great  splendour"  by  the  community. 

The  last  abbot,  William  Malvern  or  Parker,  was 
elected  on  May  4,  1 5 1 5,  and  his  community  then  con- 
sisted of  thirty-four  monks.  The  antiquary  Browne 
Willis  considers  that  probably  he  was  got  rid  of  by 
the  royal  commissioners  before  the  suppression  of  the 
house.  His  name  does  not  appear  on  the  deed  of  sur- 
render, which  was  signed  on  January  2,  1539,  the  re- 
ligious being  expelled  as  soon  as  possible  afterwards. 
One  who  deeply  felt  the  sadness  of  the  catastrophe 
which  overwhelmed  Gloucester,  after  its  centuries  of 
corporate  life,  has  written  thus  of  the  last  services  held 
by  the  monksln  their  choir*  "  Having  existed  for  more 
than  eight  centuries  under  different  forms,  in  poverty 
and  in  wealth,  in  meanness  and  in  magnificence,  in 
misfortune  and  in  success,  it  finally  succumbed  to  the 
royal  will;  the  day  came,  and  that  a  dreary  winter  day, 
when  its  last  Mass  was  sung,  its  last  censer  waved,  its 
last  congregation  bent  in  rapt  and  lowly  adoration  be- 
fore the  altar  there;  and  doubtless  as  the  last  tones  of 
that  day's  evensong  died  away  in  the  vaulted  roof,  there 
were  not  wanting  those  who  lingered  in  the  solemn 
stillness  of  the  old  massive  pile,  and  who,  as  the  lights 
disappeared  one  by  one,  felt  that  for  them  there  was 
now  a  void  which  could  never  be  filled,  because  their 
old  abbey,  with  its  beautiful  services,  its  frequent  means 
of  grace,  its  hospitality  to  strangers  and  its  loving  care 
of  God's  poor,  had  passed  away  like  an  early  morning 
dream  and  was  gone  for  ever." 

119 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Jervaulx 

N  Wensleydale,  between  Bedale  and  Leyburn  on 
the  river  Eure,  stands  all  that  remains  of  Jervaulx 
Abbey.  The  monastery  wzs  first  founded  at  a  place 
in  the  same  neighbourhood  called  Fors,  or  Dalegrange 
in  1 145  by  a  few  monks  of  Savigny.  Five  years  later 
the  infant  community  placed  themselves  under  the 
Benediftine  abbey  of  Byland  in  the  same  county  of 
Yorkshire;  and  in  1 150  an  abbot  and  twelve  monks  were 
sent  thence  to  colonize  Dalegrange.  The  superior  of  the 
Savigny  monks  was  a  skilled  physician,  named  Peter 
de  Quinciaco,  and  why  he  and  his  companions  had 
come  to  England  at  all  was  not  understood  even  at  the 
time.  The  founder  of  the  new  house  was  Alan,  Count 
of  Brittany,  and  being  present  when  Peter  de  Quin- 
ciaco laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  settlement,  he 
persuaded  Roger  de  Mowbray,  the  founder  of  Byland, 
to  emulate  his  exarnple  and  assist  the  monks  with 
further  gifts  of  land  and  to  help  them  to  raise  their 
first  wooden  oratory, 

A  subsequent  letter  from  Roger  de  Mowbray  ex- 
plains how  it  came  to  pass  that  the  monks  of  Savigny 
afterwards  abandoned  the  house  they  had  thus  begun. 
He  had,  he  says,  given  them  pasturage  and  the  right 


120 


yervaulx 

to  cut  timber  in  his  woods  at  Masham  before  his  first 
visit  to  the  Holy  Land.  Not  long  after,  Earl  Alan,  the 
chief  founder,  had  gone  to  his  possessions  in  Brittany, 
and  visiting  Savigny  had  told  the  abbot  and  monks 
there  what  Peter  de  Quinciaco  was  doing  in  England. 
The  Earl  then  formally  presented  the  whole  of  the 
property  to  the  abbey  of  Savigny,  which  very  unwil- 
lingly the  abbot  accepted,  as  he  held  that  the  new 
house  should  never  have  been  begun  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  mother  house.  Later  on  Peter  de  Quinciaco 
was  continually  writing  from  England  or  getting  others 
to  do  so,  begging  for  more  monks  to  be  sent  over  to 
him.  But  the  abbot  of  Savigny,  remembering  what  had 
happened  in  other  cases  where  monks  had  been  sent  from 
Savigny  to  England  to  begin  new  foundations,  wrote 
to  tell  Peter  iind  the  few  he  had  with  him  how  fool- 
ishly he  had  acted  in  beginning  the  house  at  Wens- 
leydale  without  previous  consultation.  The  feelings 
of  Peter  were  hurt,  especially  as  his  abbot  had  declared 
his  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  new  place  altogether.  In  1 1 46 
Roger,  abbot  of  Byland,  had  to  go  over  to  Savigny 
to  the  General  Chapter,  and  Peter  bethought  himself 
of  entrusting  a  letter  to  his  abbot  to  Abbot  Roger's 
keeping. 

The  whole  question  of  the  new  foundation  at  Wensley- 
dale  was  raised  in  the  second  session  of  this  Chapter,  and 
by  the  advice  of  the  abbots  of  Quarre  and  Neath,  who 
were  also  at  the  meeting,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Abbot 
of  Savigny  should  give  the  incipient  house  of  Fors  to 


121 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  Abbey  of  Byland,  the  youngest  daughter  house 
of  Savigny  in  England,  and  the  nearest  to  Wensleydale. 
The  Abbot  of  Quarre  was  instru6led  to  carry  out  this 
judgement  and  to  tell  Peter  and  his  companions  that 
they  might  either  remain  under  the  obedience  of  the 
Abbot  of  Byland  or  return  to  Savigny.  If  the  place, 
however,  was  on  inquiry  found  to  be  unable  to  support 
a  community,  then  it  should  be  retained  merely  to 
furnish  an  additional  subsidy  to  the  Abbot  of  Savigny. 
These  alternatives  were  put  before  Peter  and  his  three 
companions,  and  after  consideration  and  prayer  they 
came  before  the  Abbot  of  Quarre,  and  Peter  afting  as 
their  spokesman  said:  "Holy  Father  of  Quarre,  we 
have  now  sufficiently  debated  the  business  that  has 
brought  you  here.  I  wish  in  the  first  place  to  inform 
you  that  I  and  my  two  companions,  to  whom  origi- 
nally this  place  was  specially  given  for  God's  service, 
have  with  all  our  bodies  and  souls  promoted  its  welfare 
and  increased  its  substance.  Now,  indeed,  blessed  be  the 
Most  High !  we  have  five  carucates  of  ploughland,  forty 
cows  with  their  calves,  sixteen  horses  with  their  foals, 
given  by  the  Earl  of  Brittany,  five  sows  with  their 
litters,  three  hundred  sheep,  thirty  skins  in  tanning, 
and  wax  and  oil  more  than  enough,  with  a  little  help, 
for  two  years.  We  are  certain  that  we  can  find  bread 
and  beer,  cheese  and  butter  for  one  vear  and  we  be- 
lieve  that  any  abbot  and  a  community  of  monks  can 
begin  on  such  promise  and  live  till  God  provides  more 
fully." 


122 


f:^ 


yeryaulx 

After  this  Peter  declared  that  if  the  abbot  of  By- 
land  would  send  a  community  and  an  abbot,  with  the 
promise  that  Fors  should  continue  and  be  allowed  to  elect 
its  own  abbot  in  succession,  he  and  his  companions 
would  gladly  hand  over  all  their  possessions  to  them. 
This  having  been  promised,  Peter  de  Quinciaco  with 
his  two  companions  and  one  lay  brother  renewed  their 
profession  to  the  abbot  of  Byland;  a  second  lay  brother, 
not  wishing  to  do  this,  returned  at  once  to  Savigny. 

One  or  two  years  later  the  abbot  of  Savigny  sent 
letters  to  the  English  houses  in  union  with  him  order- 
ing them  in  the  name  of  Pope  Eugenius  to  take  the 
Cistercian  Constitution.  The  promised  community  of 
monks  had  not  at  that  time  been  sent  from  Byland,  and 
as  there  seemed  to  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  position  of 
the  community  at  Fors  under  the  changed  circum- 
stances, the  abbot  of  Byland  in  1149  went  over  to 
Savigny  to  consult  the  abbot.  On  his  way  back  he  re- 
mained at  Clairvaulx  to  attend  the  General  Chapter  of 
the  Cistercians,  presided  over  by  St  Bernard  himself. 
He  was  received  with  great  kindness,  and  St  Bernard 
ordered  that  the  name  of  Fors  should  be  inscribed  on 
the  list  of  Cistercian  houses.  The  Abbot  of  Byland  got 
home  for  November  i  and  immediately  set  about  the 
task  of  erecting  the  new  foundation  into  an  abbey.  He 
ordered  the  cellarer  of  Byland  to  purchase  a  new  bell 
for  their  own  church,  and  sent  the  old  one  to  Jervaulx, 
and  at  the  new  year,  1 150,  he  went  thither  and  spent 
a  month  in  making  all  necessary  preparations  for  the 

123 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
advent  of  the  community.  Returning,  he  ordered  Peter 
and  his  companions  to  be  at  Byland  for  the  first  Sun- 
day of  Lent.  On  that  day  in  the  conventual  chapter  he 
appointed  John  de  Kingston  the  first  abbot  of  the  new 
house,  giving  him  as  his  community  Peter  and  his  two 
companions  and  nine  monks  of  Byland,  who  immedi- 
ately made  their  obedience  to  their  new  abbot.  On 
March  8,  after  receiving  the  usual  blessing,  the  abbot 
and  community  set  out  for  their  new  home,  where 
they  were  received  at  Dalegrange  by  the  old  benefac- 
tors of  the  place;  and  here  the  abbot  appointed  a  prior, 
and  Peter,  who  knew  the  place  so  well,  his  cellarer.  The 
first  years  were  times  of  difficulty  and  trial,  and  in  the 
fifth  year  the  house  nearly  came  to  an  end  through 
poverty,  as  the  autumn  was  wet  and  it  was  impossible 
to  gather  in  the  harvest.  The  monks  often  discussed  the 
propriety  of  returning  to  their  old  home  at  Byland,  but 
in  the  end  they  were  helped  in  their  difficulty  by  the 
generosity  of  the  abbot  of  this  latter  house  and  his 
community.  Still  the  revenues  of  the  abbey  were  not 
sufficient  to  support  the  inmates,  and  for  a  year  five  of 
the  religious  were  compelled  to  return  to  Byland,  and 
three  others  to  seek  shelter  at  Furness. 

Meanwhile  Peter,  now  the  cellarer,  asked  permis- 
sion to  go  and  interest  Count  Alan  of  Brittany  in  their 
difficulties.  This  he  did,  and  the  Count  at  once  ex- 
pressed his  intention  of  materially  aiding  them  when 
he  next  came  over  into  Richmond.  After  a  delay  of 
two  years  he  paid  his  promised  visit  and  enjoyed  the 

124 


yervaulx 
chase  on  his  estates,  where  the  only  drawback  to  his 
sport  was  the  number  of  wolves  which  infested  the 
place.  He  then  came  to  the  abbey  and  promised  liberal 
help.  This,  however,  he  was  not  destined  to  give  in 
person,  as  he  shortly  after  died.  His  son,  Conan, 
however,  took  up  the  work  and  gave  the  community 
a  large  tract  of  land  at  East  Witton,  and  great  pas- 
turage on  Wensleydale ;  to  this  situation  near  Witton 
on  the  Eure  the  community  moved  and  began  to  build, 
and  from  its  situation  on  the  river  it  first  began  to  be 
known  as  Jervaulx. 

Of  the  subsequent  history  of  the  monastery  little  is 
known  until  the  date  of  the  final  suppression.  In  the 
year  of  the  Great  Pestilence,  1349,  the  Abbot  of  Jer- 
vaulx died  apparently  of  that  disease,  but  there  is  no 
record  of  the  extent  of  its  ravages  among  the  com- 
munity. Probably  Jervaulx  at  this  time  suffered  the 
loss  of  many  of  its  members,  even  if  it  was  not  depleted, 
as  so  many  religious  houses  were,  by  the  scourge. 

The  last  abbot,  Adam  Sedbar,  alias  Nelson,  was 
elected  in  1533.  When  the  Northern  Rising  took  place 
in  1 537,  Abbot  Sedbar  found  himself  implicated  in  the 
charges  made  against  the  heads  of  several  abbeys  in  the 
north.  The  chief  witness  against  him  was  one  of  the 
monks  of  Jervaulx,  called  Ninian  Staveley,  himself  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  movement  and  a  representative  of 
the  swashbuckler  element  among  the  insurgents.  He 
was  an  adventurer  who,  having  compromised  himself, 
endeavoured  to  save  his  own  neck  by  turning  an  infor- 

125 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
mant.  According  to  his  deposition  it  would  appear 
that  during  the  second  rising  the  abbot  had  promised 
to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  insurgents  with  all  his  monks; 
he  had  also,  so  said  Staveley,  begged  Sir  Thomas  Percy 
"  to  come  forward,"  and  had  sent  to  find  out  whether 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  advancing  "with  arms  or  no." 
On  April  27,  1537,  Abbot  Sedbar  was  examined  in 
the  Tower  on  these  accusations.  Being  sworn,  he  ad- 
mitted that  about  Michaelmas  during  the  first  rising 
there  "  came  to  the  garth  or  court  of  the  abbey  "  some 
two  or  three  hundred  men.  He  knew  nothing  about  it 
at  the  time,  but  hearing  that  their  captains,  Middleton 
and  Staveley,  were  asking  for  him  "he  conveyed  him- 
self by  a  back  door"  to  a  place  called  "  Wilton  Fell." 
He  only  had  a  boy  with  him,  and  he  "bade  his  other 
servants  get  them  every  man  to  his  own  house  and  save 
their  cattle  and  goods."  He  remained  thus  concealed 
for  four  days,  only  coming  home  at  night ;  "  and  for  all 
those  days  the  commons  wandered  about  the  said  house 
in  the  country  round  about."  "  At  last,  hearing  that 
this  examinate  had  said  that  there  should  be  no  servant 
of  his  ever  after  do  him  services,  nor  tenant  dwell  on  no 
land  of  his,  that  should  go  with  them,  they  therefore 
turned  backto  Jervaulx,and  inquired  forthis  examinate, 
and  they  were  answered  that  he  was  not  at  home." 
And  they  compelled  the  monks  to  proceed  to  the  elec- 
tion of  another  abbot  in  his  place.  The  monks  hesita- 
ting, the  people  said  that  if  they  did  not  proceed  to  an 

election  within  an  hour  they  would  burn  the  house 

126 


yervaulx 

about  their  ears.  At  length  the  monks  sent  to  seek 
Abbot  Sedbar,  and  finding  him  in  a  great  crag  on  Wilton 
Fell,  begged  him  to  come  home  to  prevent  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  monastery. 

"Then  for  saving  of  the  house  this  examinate  come 
home,  and,  about  the  outer  gate,  he  was  torn  from  his 
horse  and  almost  killed,  they  crying, '  Down  with  the 
traitor ! '"  After  threatening  to  kill  him  they  made  him 
come  with  them  and  kept  him  for  some  days  before 
they  allowed  him  to  return  to  Jervaulx.  He  denied 
absolutely  that  he  had  given  any  aid  whatever  to  them. 
They  had  indeed  taken  his  servants  with  them,  but  he 
had  refused  to  pay  them  their  wages  and  "he  never 
sent  vituals  unto  them."  The  insurgents  had  tried  to 
force  him  and  his  brethren  to  go  with  them,  but  he 
had  refused  and  had  fled  to  Bolton  Castle  to  Lord 
Scrope  and  had  remained  there  till  the  insurgents  were 
"broken  at  Richmond."  He  further  denied  the  special 
points  which  Staveley  had  suggested  against  him. 

At  the  same  time  the  late  abbot  of  Fountains, 
William  Thirsk,  who  was  then  living  at  Jervaulx  and 
who  was  subsequently  executed,  was  also  examined  as 
to  his  complicity  in  the  rising.  He  declared  that  he 
remembered  well  how  the  insurgents  tried  to  compel 
the  Jervaulx  brethren  to  join  them.  "Middleton  and 
Staveley,"  he  said,  "came  in  harness  to  the  abbot  of 
Jervaulx,  as  he  and  this  examinate  were  in  his  chamber, 
and  bade  them  all,  their  brethren  and  servants  on  pain 
of  death,  go  with   them  forthwith.  And  many  other 

127 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
of  the  commons  were  in  the  hall  and  about  the  house. 
And  he  desired  them  instantly  to  suffer  him  and  his 
brethren  to  be  still,  seeing  that  it  was  not  meet  that 
religious  men  should  go  about  any  such  business." 

Although  there  was  little  enough  in  these  depositions 
and  e»xaminations  to  implicate  the  Abbot  of  Jervaulx 
in  the  Northern  insurredions,  his  ultimate  fate  was 
hardly  doubtful  from  the  first.  He  was  hanged  on 
June  2,  1 5  37,  at  Tyburn,  and  by  the  new  interpretation 
of  the  law  of  attainder,  the  property  of  his  abbey  was 
held  to  be  forfeited  to  the  Crown  by  the  construftive 
treason  of  its  abbot.  "The  house  of  Jervaulx,"  wrote 
the  King,  with  keen  prevision,  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex, 
"is  in  some  danger  of  suppression  by  like  offence  as 
hath  been  committed  at  Whalley."  The  danger  was  not 
long  delayed;  for  at  the  beginning  of  June  Sir  Arthur 
Darcy  informed  Crumwell  that  he  had  been  at  the 
suppression  of  Jervaulx.  "The  house  within  the  gate," 
he  writes,  "is  covered  wholly  with  lead,  and  there  is 
one  of  the  fairest  churches  that  I  have  seen,  fair  mea- 
dows and  a  river  running  by  it,  and  a  great  domain." 
In  fadt  he  was  so  pleased  with  the  place  and  its  possi- 
bilities for  breeding  horses,  "for  surely  the  breed  of 
Jervaulx  for  horses  was  the  tried  breed  in  the  north," 
that  he  suggested  it  would  make  a  good  stable  for  the 
royal  stud  of  mares." 

By  the  energy  of  Richard  Bellasis  before  the  middle 
of  November  what  Darcy  declares  to  have  been  "  one 
of  the  fairest  churches  that  I  have  seen"  had  been  dese- 

128 


yervaulx 

crated  and  demolished.  Crumwell  had  ordered  the  lead 
to  be  pulled  forthwith  from  the  roof,  and  his  agent 
wrote  to  say  that  this  had  been  done  and  that  it  was  melted 
into  "pieces  of  half  fodders;  which  lead  amounteth  to 
the  number  of  eighteen  score  and  five  fodders,  with 
thirty-four  fodders  and  a  half  that  was  there  before. 
The  said  lead  cannot  be  conveyed  nor  carried  until  the 
next  summer,  for  the  ways  in  this  country  are  so  foul 
and  deep  that  no  carriage  can  pass  in  the  winter.  And 
as  concerning  the  razing  of  the  house  if  it  be  your 
lordship's  pleasure  I  am  minded  to  let  it  stand  till  the 
spring  of  the  year,  because  the  days  are  now  so  short 
it  would  be  double  charges  to  do  it  now."  As  to  the 
bells  he  writes,  "  I  cannot  sell  them  above  fifteen  shil- 
ling the  hundred  weight,"  and  he  would  gladly  know 
whether  he  should  take  that  price  or  send  them  up  to 
London. 

By  Michaelmas,  1537,  the  King's  official  is  able  to 
account  for  receipts  from  the  attainted  monastery  of 
Jervaulx  exceeding  ^600. The  following  year  the  same 
property  paid  into  the  exchequer  £j6^  i  3s.  8d.,  but 
in  that  period  more  than  ^2,000  had  been  paid  out  of 
this  and  other  attained  property  in  Yorkshire  for  the 
fees  and  payment  of  knights  and  squires  on  the  marches 
of  Scotland. 

As  in  the  case  of  other  attainted  monasteries  like 
Whalley,  Glastonbury,  Colchester,  or  Reading  the 
monks  of  Jervaulx  did  not  receive  any  pension  when 
they  were  turned  out  of   their  monastery.  What  be- 

129  9 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
came  of  them  is  for  the  most  part  unknown.  In  1585 
John  Almond,  one  of  them,  died  at  the  age  of  76  in 
the  Castle  of  Hull,  having  been  in  prison  there  since 
1579.  Two  years  previously  Thomas  Madde,  another 
Cistercian  of  Jervaulx,  died  in  prison  at  York.  Of  him 
it  is  said  that  in  Henry  VHI's  days  he  "did  take  away 
and  hide  the  head  of  one  of  his  brethren  of  the  same 
house,  who  suffered  death  in  that  he  would  not  yield 
and  consent  to  the  royal  supremacy."  Afterwards  he 
fled  to  Scotland  "  where  he  did  remain  unto  the  end  of 
King  Edward's  reign.  He,  returning  in  Queen  Mary's 
reign,  did  spend  his  time  about  Knaresborough  in  serving 
God  according  to  his  vocation  and  teaching  of  gentle- 
men's children  and  others." 


130 


CHAPTER  XIV 

St  Mary's,  York 

DOWN  by  the  river  at  York,  and  just  inside 
the  city  walls,  stood  the  abbey  of  Our  Lady 
St  Mary.  Comparatively  fev^^  remains  nov^ 
mark  the  site  of  w^hat,  before  its  destruction,  was  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  churches  in  medieval  England, 
and  "one  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  consummate 
architecture  in  the  world."  The  actual  ruins  are  but 
few :  the  crumbling  wall  of  the  north  aisle  ;  a  tower- 
pier  cut  short  at  about  half  its  height ;  a  mere  frag- 
ment of  the  west  wall ;  and  a  few  stones  of  the 
Chapter  House  still  stand,  but  the  enormous  mass  of 
fragments,  many  superbly  carved,  which  have  been  of 
late  gathered  together,  manifest  even  more  clearly  the 
beauty  of  that  which  was  destroyed  in  the  sixteenth 
century  than  what  still  remains  standing. 

The  first  beginnings  of  St  Mary's,  York,  must  re- 
main uncertain.  According  to  one  account,  the  Earl 
of  Richmond,  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
founded  a  house  for  Benedictines  in  the  suburbs  of 
York.  But  all  authorities  appear  to  admit  that  William 
Rufus  in  1088,  finding  the  place  too  straitened  for  the 
reception  of  any  convent  of  size,  or  projecting  a  larger 
one,  with  his  own  hand  opened  the  ground  for  the 

131  9^ 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
foundation  of  the  more  spacious  building  on  the  site 
where  the  ruins  may  now  be  seen.  His  charters  grant- 
ing privileges  and  immunities  naturally  cause  him  to 
be  regarded  as  the  chief  founder  of  the  abbey.  Other 
kings  followed  this  example  of  William  II  and  ex- 
tended their  patronage  to  the  monastery,  and  many 
pious  noblemen  and  others  continually  added  to  the 
original  foundation,  until  St  Mary's  became  possessed 
of  a  revenue  of  ^1,650  os.  yjd.,  according  to  the 
Valor  Ecc/esiasticus  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  abbey  of  St  Mary's,  York,  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  being  one  of  the  two  mitred  abbeys  north  of 
the  Trent — the  other  being  Selby — and  the  abbot 
was  summoned  to  Parliament  as  a  peer  of  the  realm. 
It  had  an  even,  uneventful  history,  disturbed  only 
by  quarrels  as  to  rights  and  privileges  with  the  town 
and  with  the  Archbishop  of  York.  The  latter  was 
bound  by  his  official  duty  to  make  a  formal  visitation  of 
the  abbey  once  a  year.  He  could  also  reform  and  correct 
any  abuse  he  found  in  the  house  with  the  consent  and 
counsel  of  the  community  and  five  or  six  of  the  canons 
of  his  cathedral.  These  visits  were  generally  carried 
out  with  justice  and  in  a  spirit  of  fair  dealing  on  both 
sides.  To  take  an  example:  in  1 344,  William,  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  in  making  his  visitation,  raised 
the  question  of  the  right  of  the  abbot  and  convent  to 
take  certain  tithes  and  pensions  from  so  many  churches 
in  his  diocese.  The  religious  at  once  produced  papal 
Bulls  and  the   grants  of  his  predecessors  in  the  See, 

132 


r,. 


4^-Z'^V  I:'   ' 


tt^  =oii'r-f.  ^3ISii-:^!**WL* 


aSV  Ma?ys^  York 
allowing  them  to  hold  these  impropriations ;  where- 
upon they  were  allowed  by  the  prelate  and  declared 
good  and  sufficient.  To  take  another  instance  :  in  one 
of  these  visitations  it  became  evident  to  the  archbishop 
that  for  the  regular  observance  and  the  avoidance  of 
minor  differences  in  the  community,  it  would  be  well 
that  there  should  be  a  proper  customal  drawn  up,  as 
the  book  to  which  all  could  appeal.  He  consequently 
appointed  a  commission,  consisting  of  two  of  the 
community  and  two  canons  of  the  cathedral.  Together 
they  composed,  and  the  Archbishop  approved,  a  con- 
suetudinary of  ceremonies  and  music  to  be  observed  at 
St  Mary's,  which  volume  was  afterwards  kept  in  the 
abbot's  chapel  as  the  official  ceremonial  to  be  appealed 
to  whenever  it  became  necessary. 

The  great  church  of  St  Mary's,  York,  was  cruci- 
form, and  each  of  the  arms  east  and  west  of  the  cen- 
tral tower  consisted  of  eight  bays.  It  was  rebuilt  in 
the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth-century.  Thus  in 
1270,  abbot  Simeon  de  Warwick  is  said  "to  have 
commenced  the  new  work  of  the  choir,"  which  entry 
in  the  records  affiards  an  indication  of  the  period  when 
this  fine  specimen  of  thirteenth-century  ecclesiastical 
architecture  was  under  construction.  The  foundations 
of  many  of  the  domestic  buildings  can  be  easily  traced; 
the  Chapter  House  had  three  alleys,  a  very  unusual 
feature;  the  parlour  and  slype,  or  passage  to  the  ceme- 
tery, are  on  the  east  side  and  formed  the  undercroft  to 
the  dormitory;  the  Norman  arch  of  the  gatehouse  re- 

133 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
mains  on  the  north.  The  lower  guest  house,  consisting 
of  a  stone  basement  of  the  fourteenth  century  and  a 
superstructure  of  the  fifteenth,  is  near  the  river. 

One  or  two  interesting  little  particulars  in  the  history 
of  St  Mary's  appear  in  the  annals  of  the  abbey  of  Meaux. 
In    I2IO,  on   the  election  of  Hugh  as  abbot  of  the 
latter  house,  the  convent  found  themselves  unable  to 
pay  the  fine  of  a  thousand  marks  demanded  by  the 
King's  officials,  who  thereupon  seized  some  of  their 
lands  and  sold  them.  By  this  alienation  the  monastery 
became  so  impoverished  that  the  monks  had  to  disperse. 
At  this  time  most  of  the  other  Cistercian  houses  in  the 
country  were  also  too  poor  to  receive  their  brethren  of 
Meaux,  and  so  the  abbot  of  St  Mary's,  York,  offisred 
to  give  some  of  them  shelter.  The  good  relation  be- 
tween the  two  houses  was  somewhat  disturbed  in  the 
middle  of  this  same  thirteenth  century  by  a  dispute 
about  the  fishing  in  Wathsand  and  Hornsey  meres. 
Meaux  had  paid  a  rent  to  St  Mary's  for  the  privilege, 
but  ultimately  there  was  an  appeal  to  the  law  and, 
finally,  to  a  combat  between  the  champions  of  the  two 
convents.  Whilst  this  wager  of  battle  was  proceeding, 
an  agreement  was  come  to  by  the  parties.  In  further 
negotiations,  however,  they  again  fell  out,  and  once 
more  the  settlement  was  referred  to  the  two  champions 
to  fight  out  the  cause  to  the  end.  A  stay,  however,  was 
allowed  in  order  that  the  Meaux  claimants  might  have 
the  part  of  the  mere  they  held  to  be  theirs  marked  out 
by  stakes.  Still  no  agreement  could  be  come  to,  and  the 

134 


St  Marys^  York 
two  champions  commenced  their  wager  of  battle  at 
York.  They  fought,  says  the  chronicler,  a  mane  usque 
ad  vesperam — from  morning  till  night — when  the 
"athlete"  of  Meaux  Httle  by  little  lost  his  strength, 
and  St  Mary's  was  adjudged  to  have  the  victory. 

From  the  same  source  we  know  that  in  1 3  19,  when 
1 5,000  Scots  attacked  Yorkshire,  the  clerics  of  York 
were  not  backward  in  defending  themselves.  The 
Archbishop  of  York  with  his  cross-bearer,  the  Bishop 
of  Ely,  the  Chancellor,  the  Abbot  of  St  Mary's,  the 
Dean  of  York  and  others  were  present  at  the  battle  of 
Milton  on  the  Swale.  The  English  suffered  terribly, 
says  the  record,  and  "many  priests  and  clerics"  with 
the  Mayor  of  York  were  killed  and  more  than  3,000 
men  were  drowned  in  trying  to  cross  the  river.  The 
Abbot  of  St  Mary's,  the  Bishop  of  Ely  and  the  Arch- 
bishop, were  saved  by  timely  flight.  The  cross  of  the 
latter,  however,  was  lost  for  some  days. 

The  last  abbot,  William  Thornton  or  Dent,  was  ap- 
pointed in  1530.  The  royal  visitation,  prior  to  the 
ParHament  of  1536,  was  begun  in  Yorkshire  in  the 
January  of  that  year,  only  a  few  weeks,  indeed,  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Houses  in  London.  On  January  13, 
Layton,  one  of  the  most  diligent  of  the  visitors,  wrote 
to  Crumwell  from  St  Mary's.  "This  day,"  he  says, 
"we  begin  with  St  Mary's  Abbey,  whereat  we  suppose 
to  find  much  evil  disposition,  both  in  the  abbot  and 
the  convent,  whereof,  God  willing,  I  shall  certify  you 
in  my  next  letter."  This  expectation   hardly  displays 

135 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  judicial  spirit;  the  writer  expects  to  find  what  he 
has  come  to  find,  and  will  be  only  too  pleased  to  be 
able  to  write  his  accusations  in  the  next  communica- 
tion. Whatever  may  have  been  the  result  of  this  so- 
called  examination,  St  Mary's,  York,  did  not  come 
within  the  £^ioo  a  year  limit  of  corruption  fixed  by 
the  Act  dissolving  the  lesser  houses.  As  it  was  one  of, 
what  the  preamble  of  that  Act  calls,  "  the  Great  and 
Solemn  Houses"  of  the  realm,  in  it,  according  to 
Henry's  declaration,  religious  life  was  right  well  kept 
and  observed. 

A  few  years  later,  however,  this  good  character  did 
not  avail,  and  finally  the  abbot  and  the  convent  gave 
way  to  the  pressure  exerted  upon  them  and  surrendered 
their  house  on  November  26,  1539.  The  wrecking  of 
the  noble  buildings  at  once  began;  the  roofing  of  the 
church  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  spoilers,  as  it  was 
estimated  to  be  worth  ^TSoo;  the  conventual  buildings 
are  said  to  have  been  blown  up  and  the  ground  levelled, 
in  order  to  erect  on  the  site  a  royal  palace  for  the 
northern  parts.  Immediately  after  Henry's  death  the 
greater  portion  of  the  royal  palace  was  destroyed  and 
what  was  left,  together  with  the  old  abbot's  lodgings, 
was  turned  into  a  dwelling  for  the  "  Lord  President  of 
the  North,"  which  was  changed  a  great  deal  in  the  time 
of  James  I  and  Charles. 

During  this  time  probably  the  roofless  skeleton  of 
the  once-glorious  church  still  stood  more  or  less  intact. 
In  1 70 1,  however,  York  Castle,  standing  much  in  need 

136 


St  Marys,  York 
of  reparation,  found  a  ready  quarry  of  stone  In  the 
walls  of  old  St  Mary's.  King  George  I  also  gracefully 
granted  to  Beverley  Minster  and  St  Mary's,  Beverley, 
as  much  stone  from  the  ruin  as  they  needed  for  their 
extensive  repairs.  Lastly,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  to 
complete  the  destruction,  permission  w^as  granted  to 
erect  lime-kilns,  into  which  for  years  went  the  worked 
stones  which  would  now  have  been  without  price.  It 
was  not  till  1827  that  anyone  thought  of  raising  a 
protest  against  this  vandalism. 


137 


CHAPTER  XV 

Milton 

THE  Benedictine  Abbey  of  Milton  In  Dorset- 
shire was  founded  in  the  year  939  by  King 
Athelstan.  It  was  called  variously  Middleton, 
Milton  Abbas  or  Milton,  and  was  dedicated  first  to 
St  Mary  and  St  Michael  the  Archangel.  To  these  pa- 
trons were  afterwards  added  St  Sampson  and  St  Bran- 
walader,  as  the  church  In  the  early  days  of  its  existence 
became  possessed  of  considerable  relics  of  these  Saints. 
The  abbey  had  its  origin  in  the  tragic  death  of  Edwin, 
the  brother  of  Athelstan,  for  which  that  king  held  him- 
self in  part  blameworthy.  When  Athelstan  began  his 
reign  in  the  year  924  he  found  himself  the  practical 
master  of  nearly  all  England,  and  within  a  few  years 
of  his  accession  he  had  also  Imposed  his  rule  on  North- 
umbria  and  Wales,  and  had  driven  the  Britons  of  Corn- 
wall westward  from  Exeter.  Athelstan  had  three  brothers, 
Edmund,  Eadred,  and  Edwin.  The  two  first  succeeded 
him  on  the  throne;  the  third  was  accused  of  conspi- 
ring against  him.  Athelstan,  acting  impulsively  on  bad 
advice,  expelled  Edwin  from  England,  putting  him 
with  his  squire  only  on  board  a  boat  without  either 
oars  or  sail,  and  setting  him  adrift  at  Dover.  After 
being  tossed  about  for  some  time  on  the  English  seas, 

138 


Milton 

Edwin  is  said  to  have  thrown  himself  overboard  when 
near  the  Norman  coast;  but  his  squire,  abiding  in  the 
ship,  came  safely  to  land  near  Ushant,  with  the  body 
of  the  prince,  which  was  carried  to  St  Bertin's  Abbey 
and  there  buried.  Athelstan  was  filled  with  remorse  for 
what  he  had  done  to  bring  about  the  death  of  his 
brother  Edwin,  and  he  determined  in  expiation  to 
build  a  monastery  for  Benedictine  monks  at  Milton, 
and  to  dedicate  it  to  our  Lady  and  St  Michael.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  buried  the  body  of  his  mother,  Amphe- 
lisa  in  this  place,  and  continued  during  life  to  manifest 
his  interest  in  the  new  foundation. 

Amongst  other  precious  gifts  the  founder  bestowed 
upon  the  abbey  of  Milton  were  many  relics  of  saints, 
etc.,  which  he  brought  from  Rome  and  Brittany.  In  the 
list  of  these  we  find  "the  arm  and  other  bones  of  St 
Sampson,"  and  the  arm  of  St  Branwalader  the  bishop. 
These  and  other  relics,  "at  great  cost  and  labour,"  he 
procured  and  placed  in  gilt  shrines  in  the  abbey  church 
to  obtain  prayers  for  the  soul  of  his  brother  Edwin 
and  for  that  of  his  mother,  who  lay  buried  in  the  place 
he  had  founded. 

The  connexion  between  the  abbey  of  Milton  and 
that  of  St  Bertin  is  obvious.  Edwin  was  buried  at  the 
latter  monastery,  and  his  name  was  connected  by  the 
founder  with  Milton.  It  is  more  than  probable,  there- 
fore, that  the  monks  from  St  Bertin  came  over  the  sea 
and  formed  the  first  community  settled  at  Milton.  As 
in   so  many  of  the  English  monasteries,  during  the 

139 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Danish  invasion,  the  monastic  form  of  life  appears  to 
have  died  out  at  Milton,  since  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chroni- 
cle under  the  year  964  states  that  King  Edgar  replaced 
the  secular  canons,  who  were  then  living  there,  by 
monks. 

In  1309  a  fire  of  great  magnitude  destroyed  the 
church,  which  had  been  built  in  the  twelfth  century, 
and  most  of  the  domestic  buildings.  The  church  was 
subsequently  rebuilt  as  we  may  see  it  now.  It  is  132  feet 
long  by  61  feet;  the  tower  is  loi  feet  high,  and  the 
transepts  are  107  feet  across,  the  south  wing  having 
three  bays  and  the  north  only  two.  The  nave  was 
apparently  never  rebuilt.  The  eastern  portion  of  four 
bays  is  groined  and  retains  its  rood-loft,  thirty-two  stalls 
and  a  reredos  of  1492.  Of  the  domestic  buildings  only 
the  refectory  with  rich  oak  ceiling  and  screen  of  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  now  in  existence. 

William  Middleton,  the  last  abbot  but  one,  who 
ruled  his  house  from  1481  till  his  resignation  in  1525, 
did  much  to  repair  and  beautify  his  house.  He  founded 
a  free  school  also  at  Milton  Abbas  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII,  and  he  re-glazed  the  windows  and  other- 
wise ornamented  the  interior  of  the  abbey  church.  On 
the  reredos  just  referred  to  there  is  an  inscription  ask- 
ing for  prayers  for  himself  and  another  monk  who  had 
collected  the  money  to  pay  for  the  decoration.  The 
abbot's  rebus,  a  W  with  a  crosier  through  it,  and  a 
mill  on  a  tun,  is  frequently  seen  on  the  buildings. 

John  Stephens,  alias  Bradley,  a  monk  of  Milton,  was 

140 


■mmitimmmmmm  t 


■iiiiiai&i 


Milton 
elected  as  William  Middleton's  successor  in  1525,  and 
on  March  23,  1538,  he  was  consecrated  suffragan 
Bishop  of  Shaftesbury.  On  March  21,  the  feast  of 
their  patron,  St  Benedict,  in  the  year  1539,  the  King's 
commissioners,  John  Tregonwell  and  John  Smythe, 
came  to  Milton  and  received  from  the  abbot  and  com- 
munity the  surrender  of  their  monastery  into  the  King's 
hands.  The  late  Abbot  Stephens,  alias  Bradley,  Bishop 
of  Shaftesbury,  and  twelve  monks  signed  the  surrender, 
and  obtained  pensions  for  their  lives. 

The  same  John  Tregonwell,  on  payment  of  ^1,000 
to  the  treasurer  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations,  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  whole  property  of  Milton  Abbey. 
It  included  the  site  of  the  entire  monastery,  the  church 
and  tower,  the  cemetery  of  the  late  monastery,  all  houses, 
buildings,  barns,  stables,  granges,  dovecots,  gardens, 
orchards,  pleasure  grounds,  ponds,  stews,  etc.  As  the 
whole  was  included  in  one  grant,  this  for  a  time  pro- 
bably saved  the  buildings  from  destruction.  Hutchins, 
the  historian  of  Dorset,  says  that  all  the  monastic 
buildings,  except  the  hall  and  the  church,  were  taken 
down  only  in  1771.  Up  to  that  time  they  stood  near 
the  church  and  formed  a  long  square.  Speaking  of  what 
they  were  before  that  time,  the  same  writer  says : 
"The  north  front  was  a  very  low  antient  range  of 
buildings  with  small  narrow  windows,  perhaps  the  dor- 
mitory or  cells  for  the  monks.  You  entered  by  a  large 
gate  into  a  small  court,  whose  old  buildings  were  all 
very  irregular  in  form  and  height,  as  indeed  was  the 

141 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
old  fabric  ;  under  a  window  opposite  the  porch  was  a 
W  with  a  crown  over  it  and  an  M  with  a  crosier 
through  it,  and  between  them  1529.  ...  At  the  east 
end  of  the  court  was  the  old  abbey  kitchen  pulled  down 
in  1737.  The  roof  was  vaulted  with  stone  and  sup- 
ported by  a  massy  stone  pillar,  and  it  had  two  very 
large  chimneys  at  each  end.  The  western  side  seems  to 
have  been  the  abbot's  lodgings.  The  cloisters  were 
placed  between  the  south  end  of  the  court  and  the 
lower  part  of  the  north  aisle.  The  last  remains  appear 
to  have  been  taken  down  in  1730.  Under  the  garden 
wall,  by  the  road  that  leads  from  the  town  to  the  abbey, 
was  a  foot-walk  wall,  called  Ambry  wall ;  perhaps  it 
was  the  way  to  the  almonry  where  the  poor  received 
their  alms  of  the  abbey.  Near  this  was  the  ancient 
abbey  barn,  which  had  two  porches  or  threshing-floors 
projecting  beyond  it;  in  was  250  feet  long  by  32  feet 
broad.  It  was  all  tiled,  and  much  of  it  rebuilt  in  1 75 1 ." 
One  not  uninteresting  feature  of  the  old  monastery 
still  survives  in  the  long  flight  of  steps  from  the  pre- 
sent lawn  up  the  hill-side  to  the  chapel  of  St  Catherine. 
It  was  erected,  no  doubt,  in  imitation  of  the  Scala 
Sancta  in  Rome,  and  the  indulgence  granted  in  the 
fifteenth  century  to  such  as  would  make  the  peniten- 
tial exercise  of  mounting  these  steps  is  still  recorded 
in  an  inscription  over  the  door  of  the  chapel  at  the 
top.  Sir  Frederick  Treves  thus  describes  the  situation 
of  "one  of  the  most  elegant  minsters  in  England": 
"Milton  Abbas  is  a  model  village  grown  old.  Its  story 

142 


Milton 
is  very  simple.  When  Joseph  Darner,  afterwards  Earl 
of  Dorchester,  became  possessed  of  the  Milton  estates, 
he  found  the  ancient  village  squatted  indecently  near 
to  the  spot  where  he  intended  to  build  his  mansion. 
With  the  fine  quarter-deck  high-handedness  of  the 
eighteenth-century  squire,  he  ordered  the  offensive  ob- 
ject to  be  removed,  and  so  it  was.  The  old  untidy  ham- 
let (which  had  surrounded  the  abbey)  was  entirely 
demolished  as  soon  as  the  new  Milton  Abbas  had  been 
erected  well  out  of  sight  of  the  great  house.  This  was 
in  1786. 

"The  quaint  and  all-of-one-pattern  village  is  not 
the  only  surprising  thing  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
From  one  end  of  the  toy  town  a  road  leads  into  a  wood, 
into  whose  shades  it  dives  deeper  and  deeper,  as  does 
many  a  road  in  the  children's  story  books.  It  comes  in 
time  to  the  edge  of  the  coppice,  where  is  a  great  grass 
valley  ringed  about  by  hills.  The  woods  creep  down  to 
the  foot  of  the  slope  so  as  to  form  an  amphitheatre  of 
trees.  Here,  on  a  lawn  and  amid  the  flower-gardens  of 
a  private  mansion,  is  a  cathedral!  No  other  building  is 
in  sight.  It  is  a  strange  thing  to  meet  with — a  great 
grey  house  and  a  great  grey  church,  standing  side  by 
side  in  a  hollow  in  a  wood.  The  place  is  a  solitude, 
green  and  still,  shut  off  from  the  world  by  a  rustling 
ring  of  wooded  hills.  Such  is  Milton  Abbey." 


143 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Netley 

ON  the  low  ground  bordering  Southampton 
Water  and  almost  hidden  in  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  trees  are  the  ruins  of  Netley  Abbey.  The 
place  is  not  far  from,  is,  indeed,  almost  a  suburb  now 
of  the  ever-growing  port  of  Southampton.  The  ships 
that  are  perpetually  passing  down  the  water  on  their  way 
to  every  part  of  the  world,  or  are  returning  up  it  bearing 
the  peoples  and  produ6ls  of  lands  unheard  of  and  un- 
dreamt of  when  Netley  was  at  its  prime,  pass  and  repass 
this  silent  and  ivy-grown  memorial  of  a  life,  strange 
perhaps  now,  but  which  was  very  real  indeed  some 
centuries  ago,  when  the  great  busy  port  of  to-day  was 
yet  a  small  and  unimportant  harbour. 

Netley,  otherwise  called  Lettley,  Edwardstow  or 
Laetus  locus — happy  place — was  the  home  of  Cister- 
cian monks.  It  was  a  house  of  royal  foundation,  for 
Henry  III  established  it  in  1232  in  honour  of  St  Mary 
and  St  Edward.  The  first  monks  came  from  Beaulieu, 
the  Cistercian  Abbey  over  the  water  in  the  New  Forest, 
which,  although  it  had  been  established  so  short  a  time, 
had  yet  increased  already  in  numbers  so  much  as  to  be 
able  to  send  out  a  colony  of  brethren  to  Henry's  new 
foundation.  Netley  was  never,  apparently,  very  pro- 

144 


Netley 
sperous,  so  far  as  worldly  wealth  goes,  and  according  to 
the  taxation  of  Pope  Nicholas  the  total  amount  of  its 
temporalities  was  only  ^17.  Although  it  subsequently 
received  some  further  endowment  from  Edmund  Earl 
of  Cornwall  at  the  time  of  the  Dissolution  in  1536,  its 
clear  income  only  amounted  to  >Cioo  12s.  8d. 

Netley,  consequently,  was  in  no  sense  an  important 
monastery,  and  little  or  nothing  is  really  known  of  its 
story,  which  was  evidently  the  usual  history  of  an  obser- 
vant house,  in  which  its  members,  apparently  never  more 
numerous  than  twelve,  devoted  themselves  to  the  duties 
of  their  state.  Indeed,  in  one  way  this  secluded  spot  has 
attra6led  probably  more  notice  in  late  years  than  it  did 
in  the  days  of  its  prosperity.  The  very  picturesqueness 
of  the  situation,  the  attractive  beauty  of  the  ruins  with 
their  setting  of  green  trees  and  shrubs  has  caused  it  to 
be  considered  one  of  the  typical  ruined  abbeys  of  Eng- 
land, and  has  attracted  to  it  crowds  of  visitors  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  It  was  Sir  Horace  Walpole  who 
said  of  these  moss-grown  stones:  "They  are  not  ruins 
of  Netley  but  of  Paradise.  Oh!  the  Purple  Abbots!  what 
a  spot  they  had  chosen  to  slumber  in." 

The  beautiful  church  ere6ted  by  these  "Purple 
Abbots  "  measured  21 1  feet  in  length  by  58  feet  broad, 
with  a  transept  128  feet  across.  The  nave  was  of  eight 
bays,  and  had  a  rood-screen  with  two  processional  doors 
in  it;  the  presbytery  was  of  four  bays  and  had  its  aisles. 
In  either  transept  there  were  three  altars,  and  the  vault- 
ing still  remains  in  the  eastern  aisle  of  the  south  tran- 

145  10 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
sept.  The  cloister  of  the  monastery  was  1 14  feet  square; 
on  the  east  side  the  positions  may  still  be  marked  of 
the  sacristy  below  the  library,  the  vestibule  of  the 
Chapter  House,  the  slype  or  passage  to  the  infirmary, 
the  common  house  formerly  vaulted  in  two  alleys,  and 
a  small  entry  to  the  calefadory  which  contains  a 
thirteenth-century  fireplace.  On  the  south  side  of  the 
cloister  was  the  refeftory,  the  Early  English  door  of 
which  still  remains. 

Netley  was  one  of  the  smaller  religious  houses,  and 
hence  its  destruction  was  decreed  by  Act  of  Parliament 
in  1536,  which  dissolved  all  houses  having  an  income 
of  less  than  ^200  a  year.  It  may  be  useful  to  explain 
what  this  bald  statement  means.  In  September,  1535, 
the  King  appointed  commissioners  to  go  round  about 
the  monasteries  and  send  in  reports,  with  the  intention 
of  applying  to  Parliament  to  suppress  some  of  them  at 
least  and  to  hand  over  their  property  to  his  Majesty. 
The  chief  members  of  this  commission  were  Leyton, 
Legh,  Aprice  and  London,  and  they  went  rapidly  round 
the  country,  sending  in  letters,  reports  and  official 
accusations  against  the  good  name  of  individuals  called 
compertes^  to  Crumwell.  It  must  have  been  some  time 
in  the  late  autumn  of  1535  that  the  visitors  came  to 
Netley,  and  judging  from  other  cases  it  did  not  take 
them  very  long  to  draw  up  their  report.  We  have  not 
got  it;  but  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  it  was 
sufficiently  dreadful. 

ParUament  met  on  February  4,  1 5  36,  and  solely  upon 

146 


Netley 
the  King's  declaration  that  the  smaller  religious  houses 
were  in  a  bad  moral  state,  whilst,  "thanks  be  to  God," 
the  great  and  solemn  abbeys  were  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired, Parliament  fixed  the  pecuniary  limit  of  moral 
delinquency  at  ^200  a  year,  and  with  indignation  de- 
creed the  suppression  of  all  religious  houses  with  an 
income  below  that  sum,  giving  the  King  all  their  corpo- 
rate property.  According  to  the  preamble  of  the  Act,  it 
is  certain  that  there  was  no  inquiry  worthy  of  the  name, 
and  that  the  measure  was  passed  solely  on  the  strength 
of  the  King's  "declaration"  that  he  knew  the  charges 
against  the  smaller  houses  to  be  true. 

The  money  "measure  of  turpitude"  fixed  by  the 
Act  made  it  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  inquire  what 
houses  fell  within  this  limit  of  £^^oo  a.  year.  Com- 
missioners were  consequently  appointed  to  inquire  and 
report.  This  time  some  at  least  of  the  commissioners 
were  the  gentry  of  the  county;  the  rest  were  officials 
of  the  Augmentation  Oflice,  newly  created  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  large  sums  likely  to  come  to  the  crown 
by  the  operation  of  the  Act  of  Suppression.  Thus,  for 
Hampshire  on  May  30,  15  36,  Sir  John  Worseley,  John 
and  George  Poulet,  and  William  Berners  were  directed 
to  hold  these  inquiries,  and  this  is  their  report  about 
Netley:  It  "is  a  large  building  situate  upon  the  rivage 
of  the  seas,  to  the  King's  subjects  and  strangers  travel- 
ling the  same  seas  great  relief  and  comfort."  Although 
its  income  was  under  jTaoo  a  year,  still  the  "seven  priests" 
living  there  were  "by  report  of  good  conversation." 

147  10a 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

This  favourable  report  from  the  gentry  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood did  not  avail  to  save  poor  Netley  from  des- 
truction. In  February  1537  the  blow  fell.  The  abbot 
had  been  made  to  take  the  abbatial  office  at  Beaulieu, 
and  the  community  were  actually  without  a  head.  The 
process  of  suppression  was  much  the  same  in  every  case, 
and  the  work  was  not  done  in  a  day,  the  existing 
accounts  showing  that  it  took  from  six  to  ten  weeks  to 
conduct  a  dissolution.  The  chief  commissioners  paid 
two  official  visits  during  the  progress  of  the  work.  On 
the  first  occasion  they  announced  to  the  community 
and  its  dependents  their  impending  doom,  called  for 
and  defaced  the  seal — the  symbol  of  corporate  existence, 
without  which  nothing  in  the  way  of  business  could  be 
transacted — desecrated  the  church,  took  possession  of 
the  best  plate  and  church  vestments  "unto  the  King's 
use,"  measured  the  lead  upon  the  roofs,  counted  the 
bells,  and  appraised  the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  com- 
munity. 

They  then  passed  on  to  the  scene  of  their  next  opera- 
tions, leaving  behind  them  under-officials  and  work- 
men to  carry  out  the  designed  destruction  by  stripping 
the  roofs  and  pulling  down  the  gutters  and  pipes,  melt- 
ing the  lead  into  pigs,  throwing  down  the  bells  and 
breaking  them  with  sledge-hammers  and  packing  the 
metal  into  barrels  ready  for  the  coming  of  the  specu- 
lator. This  was  followed  by  the  work  of  collecting  the 
furniture  and  selling  it  by  public  auction  or  by  private 
tender.  When  all  this  had  been  done,  the  commis- 

148 


Netley 

sioners  returned  to  audit  the  accounts  and  to  satisfy 
themselves  that  the  work  of  destruction  had  been  ac- 
compHshed  to  the  King's  contentment. 

An  instance  of  this  maybe  seen  in  the  case  of  Netley. 
From  the  first  arrival  of  the  Royal  Commissioners  in 
February  1537  to  the  final  handing  over  the  ruins  to 
a  keeper  the  dissolution  of  the  abbey  took  ten  weeks. 
The  accounts  show  that,  first,  plate  to  the  value  of 
j(^45  I  IS.  was  sent  off  to  the  King.  The  ornament  of 
the  beautiful  church,  when  sold  piecemeal,  fetched 
^38  19s.  8d.  A  man  named  Michael  Lister  speculated 
in  all  the  movables  of  the  house,  for  which  he  paid 
a  lump  sum  of  ^10  13s.  4d.  The  same  adventurer  in 
partnership  with  another  got  all  the  cattle,  corn,  etc. 
for  only  a  little  over  ^100.  When  the  wreckers  had 
finished  there  were  ^2 1  worth  of  bell-metal  and  ^40 
worth  of  lead  cast  into  "fodders"  left  on  the  ground 
to  sell.  It  is  not  diflicult  to  understand  where  the  choir- 
stall  wood  and  the  timbers  of  the  roof  went  to  when 
the  need  to  melt  the  lead  was  pressing;  and  judging 
from  other  instances,  it  would  not  be  surprising  to  know 
that  many  a  goodly  missal  and  ancient  choir-book  used 
at  Netley  went  into  the  flames  of  the  fires  lit  in  chancel 
and  nave  to  keep  the  pot  a-boiling.  Perhaps  even  the 
flames  may  account  for  the  precious  volume  noted  by 
Leland  in  the  library  at  Netley — Rhetorica  Ciceronis. 

The  Cistercian  monks  who  lived  at  Netley  were 
soon  disposed  of  by  the  commissioners.  The  abbot,  as 
I  have  said,  had  been  appointed  to  the  abbey  of  Beau- 

149 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
lieu,  which  it  will  be  remembered  was  the  mother 
house  of  Netley,  so,  as  the  monks  of  the  latter  house 
had  no  wish  to  have  "  capacities  "  and  leave  the  re- 
ligious life,  the  most  easy  way  to  get  rid  of  them  was 
to  send  them  all  to  BeauUeu.  We  can,  perhaps,  imagine 
their  feelings  as  they  were  shipped  across  the  South- 
ampton water  on  the  first  stage  of  their  short  journey 
to  their  new  home.  Probably  from  the  boat,  as  they 
looked  back  over  the  waters  in  their  passage,  they  were 
able  to  see  the  smoke  and  flames  rising  from  their 
church  and  monastery,  and  by  this  token  to  know  that 
the  work  of  wrecking  and  destroying  all  that  they  had 
loved  so  well  was  in  full  progress. 

According  to  Browne  WiUis,  the  great  destruction 
of  the  abbey  church  commenced  about  the  period 
when  the  buildings  were  inhabited  by  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  who  converted  the  nave  or  west  end  into 
a  kitchen  and  offices.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  materials  of  the  whole  fabric 
were  sold  to  a  Mr  Walter  Taylor,  a  builder  of  South- 
ampton, but  an  accident  which  soon  after  befell  Mr 
Taylor  saved  the  ruins.  At  this  time  it  would  appear 
that  the  church  remained  in  an  almost  perfect  condi- 
tion, although  the  transept  had  been  used  as  a  stable 
and  floors  had  been  introduced  at  various  levels  in  the 
building. 

Later  on,  the  place  passed  into  the  possession  of  Sir 
Nathaniel  Holland,  whose  lady,  desiring  to  have  in 
her  park  "  an  elegant  ruin,"  according  to  the  taste  of 

150 


Netley 
the  eighteenth  century,  removed  the  entire  north 
transept  and  erected  it  near  her  house  for  that  pur- 
pose. In  spite  of  everything,  however,  Netley  remains 
one  of  the  most  fascinating  monastic  monuments  in  the 
country. 


i5> 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Pershore 

OF  the  five  great  Worcestershire  Abbeys  Glou- 
cester and  Worcester  are  placed  on  the  Severn, 
Pershore  and  Evesham  on  the  Avon,  and 
Tewkesbury  on  the  jun6tion  of  the  two  rivers.  Per- 
shore stands  in  the  garden-like  county  of  Worcester- 
shire midway  between  Evesham  and  Worcester.  The 
foundation  of  Pershore  as  a  monastery  is  somewhat 
uncertain.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  about  the  year 
682  Oswald,  a  nephew  of  Ethelred,  King  of  Mercia, 
established  there  a  house  of  monks.  During  the  dark 
times  of  the  Danish  invasions  nothing  is  known  about 
Pershore;  but  some  time  before  975  St  Oswald,  with 
the  help  of  King  Edgar,  evidently  re-established  the 
monks  in  their  old  place,  which,  according  to  some, 
here  as  elsewhere,  was  occupied  by  seculars. 

Edgar's  charter,  issued  apparently  about  972,  dedi- 
cates the  church  and  monastery  of  Pershore  to  the 
"  Mother  of  our  Lord,  Mary  ever  a  Virgin,  to  St  Peter, 
chief  of  the  Apostles  and  his  fellow-apostle  Paul."  The 
monks  dwelling  there  were  to  have  the  right  of  eleding 
their  abbot  after  the  death  of  the  then  Abbot  Fulbert, 
who  had  been  appointed  to  begin  the  monastery;  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  Edgar  restored  to  them  the  lands  which 

152 


Pershore 

had  been  taken  from  them  in  the  past  troubles.  The 
church  and  domestic  buildings  were  at  this  time  made  of 
wood  and  were  more  than  once  destroyed  by  fire.  An 
entry  in  an  old  manuscript  states  that  in  976  a  "consul 
nequissimus,"  named  iElfer,  "wickedly  destroyed  the 
church  of  Pershore  and  many  other  churcheswhich  King 
Edgar  and  Ethelwold  had  built  in  England."  It  was 
again  burnt  down  in  about  the  year  1000,  and  after 
two  years  occupied  in  rebuilding,  it  was,  according  to 
the  chronicle,  once  more  used  for  monastic  divine  ser- 
vice in  1002. 

In  this  early  period,  before  the  Conquest,  and  pro- 
bably about  the  time  of  Edgar,  Pershore  had  another 
benefactor  called  Alwald,  Earl  Wada,  "who  in  honour 
of  the  Mother  of  God  restored  the  monastery  of  Per- 
shore which  had  been  destroyed  by  wicked  and  unbe- 
lieving men.  Having  given  £100  to  Ailgira — probably 
Eadgyfa — Abbess  of  Winchester,  she  presented  him 
with  relics  of  the  Holy  Virgin  Eadburga  and  he  trans- 
lated them  to  Pershore  placing  them  with  great 
devotion  in  a  golden  shrine  beautifully  worked."  Here, 
says  the  chronicler,  the  sanftity  of  the  saint  was  mani- 
fested by  so  many  miracles  that  within  a  year  a  hun- 
dred sick  people  had  been  cured  of  various  infirmities. 
In  this  way,  "more  than  in  Winchester  where  the 
greater  part  of  her  body  rested,"  the  Saint  magnified 
her  power.  In  process  of  time  the  name  of  St  Eadburga 
was  added  to  the  dedication  title  of  Pershore. 

Between  the  re-establishment  of  the  abbey  by  King 

153 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

Edgar,  about  972,  and  the  survey  of  Doomsday  by  the 
Conqueror,  a  century  later,  it  seems  to  have  lost  in  some 
way  or  other  a  considerable  portion  of  its  possessions.  In 
the  Conqueror's  survey  many  of  the  places  in  Worcester- 
shire given  to  Pershore  by  the  charter  of  King  Edgar  are 
found  entered  among  the  Worcestershire  possessions  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  William  of  Malmesbury  expressly 
states  that  it  lost  fully  half  its  property :  part  he  says,  had 
been  taken  by  the  great,  part  lost  by  the  neglect  of  the 
monks,  but  the  greatest  part  of  all  had  been  bestov»red 
by  King  Edward  the  Confessor  and  King  William  on 
Westminster.  Even  some  property  in  Pershore  itself 
had  been  granted  to  the  new  foundation.  At  this  time 
the  revenue  of  the  abbey  appears  to  have  amounted  to 
only  j^79,  only  two-thirds  of  what  it  was  during  the 
reign  of  the  Confessor.  King  John  by  his  charter  se- 
cured certain  lands  and  possessions  to  the  Abbey  of 
Pershore,  now  called  the  church  of  "St  Mary  and  St 
Eadburga  the  virgin." 

In  1223,  on  St  Urban's  day,  the  abbey  was  burnt 
a  second  time.  The  place  was  undergoing  some  repairs, 
and  apparently  in  the  usual  way,  through  the  careless- 
ness of  some  workmen,  the  fire  originated  which  con- 
sumed the  entire  monastery.  The  rebuilding  was  taken 
in  hand  immediately,  but  the  church  was  not  consecrated 
till  1239.  Half  a  century  later,  in  1288,  a  third  fire 
involved  not  only  the  abbey  but  most  of  the  tov^n.  It 
began  in  the  abbey  bakehouse  or  brewery  and  the  bell 
tower  of  the  church  caught,  after  which  it  quickly 

154 


■^■^w^jsrzrrv^!' 


i^  > 


■%■ 


Pershore 
spread  and  consumed  the  entire  church  and  more  than 
forty  houses  of  the  town. 

In  this  last  fire,  probably,  the  register  of  the  estates 
and  the  "evidences  "  of  the  privileges  and  customs  of 
the  monastery  w^ere  consumed.  The  loss  was  serious,  and 
in  consequence  a  commission  to  ascertain  the  contents 
of  the  lost  papers  was  appointed  by  the  crown  and 
witnesses  were  examined  on  the  subject.  The  Prior 
Walter  was  able  to  produce  certain  copies  of  many  of 
the  documents,  which  had  been  saved,  and  which  he 
testified  exaftly  represented  the  originals,  as  he  had  fre- 
quently examined  both  together.  In  proof  of  exemp- 
tion from  the  ordinary  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of 
Worcester,  he  said  he  remembered  on  one  occasion, 
when  bishop  Manger  came  with  the  intention  of  or- 
daining clerics  in  their  church,  they  produced  their 
privilege,  and  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  chapel  of  St 
Andrew,  which  was  in  the  monks'  cemetery.  Besides  the 
prior,  fifteen  other  monks  were  examined  in  this  com- 
mission. Four  of  them  are  described  as  "old  men,"  one, 
not  among  the  "senes,"  claims  to  have  been  constantly 
a  monk  in  the  cloisters  of  Evesham  during  sixty  years, 
and  three  others  had  been  monks  more  than  thirty 
years. 

The  choir  of  the  church,  destroyed  on  St  Urban's 
day,  1223,  was  built  up  by  Abbot  Gcrvaise  and  vaulted 
by  his  successor.  The  nave  has  been  destroyed  with  the 
exception  of  the  thirteenth-century  door  to  the  clois- 
ters.   The   fine    decorated    lantern   tower,   rising    36 

155 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

feet  above  the  roof,  was  built  in  1331.  St  Eadburga's 
chapel  still  remains;  the  eastern  arm  above  the  transepts 
measures  102  feet,  and  is  now^  used  as  the  church.  The 
transepts  which  are  gone  were  1 60  feet  across,  and  the 
nave,  which  anciently  served  as  the  parish  church,  was 
180  feet  long  by  60  feet  broad.  The  entire  length  of 
the  church  was  probably  250  feet. 

The  last  abbot  was  John  Stonewell  or  Stonywell, 
who  was  elected  in  1527.  Wood  says  that  he  was  a 
native  of  Stonywell  in  Staffordshire,  and  "being  much 
addicted  to  learning  and  religion,"  he  was  sent  as  a 
youth  to  Pershore.  From  his  monastery  he  was  sent  to 
Gloucester  College  at  Oxford,  where  the  monks  of 
Pershore  had  their  own  lodging  for  students.  Later  on 
he  became  prior  of  Gloucester  College,  took  his  degree 
of  Doctor  in  Divinity  and  was  abbot  of  his  monastery. 
Later  again  he  became  a  suffragan  bishop  under  the 
title  of  Episcoptis  Poletensis^  continuing  still  to  act  as 
abbot  of  Pershore.  He  died  in  1553  and  was  buried 
according  to  his  will  in  a  chapel  he  had  built  in  the 
parish  church  of  Longdon.  For  the  use  of  this  chapel 
and  the  parishioners  of  Longdon  he  left  all  his  books, 
his  two  chalices,  his  cruets,  holy  water  stock,  vest- 
ments, albs,  altar  cloths  and  other  things  belonging  to 
his  private  chapel  at  Longdon. 

Although  the  name  of  John  Stonewell  appears  on 
the  pension  lists  as  superior,  there  is  some  dif^culty  in 
understanding  exactly  who  was  the  abbot  at  the  last. 
In  the  Crumwell  letters  are  six  or  seven  from  a  John 

156 


Pershore 

Poleton,  who  signs  himself  abbot  of  Pershore.  This 
possibly  may  have  been  his  signature  as  Bishop  Pole- 
tensis,  and  the  same  appears  in  the  abbot's  signature 
in  1534.  He  writes  about  the  pension  to  be  paid  to 
his  predecessor,  sends  Crumwell  a  present  of  jTio,  and 
certainly  had  something  to  say  at  the  Dissolution,  since 
he  writes:  "through  the  action  of  my  predecessor  and 
three  others  the  community  are  not  content  with  their 
present  stipend,  and  grumble  constantly  'at  this  visita- 
tion.' Hence  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  assign  to  each 
priest  yearly  ^(^6  1 3s.  4d.,  to  each  young  monk  ^5  and 
to  the  prior  ^10,  for  their  whole  'finding  stipend.'" 
The  writer  also  says  that  he  had  already  told  Dr  Lay  ton 
of  his  willingness  to  resign  his  house  and  states  that 
the  King's  letters  had  ordered  him  to  pay  at  once 
^93  15s.  to  his  "antecessor." 

At  this  time,  when  every  item  of  information  or 
accusation  was  eagerly  listened  to  by  the  crown  agents, 
any  discontented  monk  knew  that  he  might,  perhaps, 
"  make  for  himself"  by  a  timely  complaint  in  the  right 
quarter.  In  this  way  there  were  depositions  laid  against 
the  abbot  of  Pershore  for  speaking  against  the  King's 
proceedings.  Another  complaint,  couched  in  more 
general  terms,  was  sent  up  to  Crumwell  by  one  of  the 
Pershore  community,  Richard  Beerly,  who  wished  to 
leave  the  monastery.  He  did  not  believe  that  what  was 
called  St  Benet's  rule  was  anything  more  than  vain 
superstition.  The  monks,  according  to  him,  were  a 
thoroughly  bad  lot  in  everyway;  they  neglected  their 

157 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
choir  duties  "  with  many  other  vices  they  use,  which 
I  have  no  leisure  now  to  express.  Also  abbots,  monks, 
priests  do  little  or  nothing  to  put  out  of  books  the 
bishop  of  Rome's  name,  for  I  myself  do  know  In  divers 
books  where  his  name  and  his  usurped  power  upon  us 
is."  Richard  Beerly,  the  writer  of  the  above  letter,  signed 
the  acknowledgement  of  the  Royal  Supremacy  as  the 
last  of  the  community,  and  as  his  name  does  not  appear 
on  the  pension  document  at  all,  no  doubt  he  was 
allowed  to  have  his  way  and  leave  the  monastery. 

The  suppression  of  Pershore  was  probably  carried 
out  in  1539.  No  deed  of  surrender  appears  in  the 
archives  of  the  Record  Office  or  is  to  be  found  on  the 
Close  Rolls,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  actual  surrender 
would  have  taken  place  about  the  same  time  as  that  of 
the  neighbouring  monastery  of  Evesham,  which  was 
in  November  1539.  The  ministers'  accounts  show  that 
from  the  various  sales  of  the  goods,  etc.,  of  Pershore,  the 
royal  agents  received  one  year  ^(^541  2S.  Sjd.,  and  the 
second  year  £71  is.  The  portion  of  the  church  that 
Still  exists  was  saved  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
who  paid  >C4'^o  ^^"^  i^  ^^  ^^  crown. 


158 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Rievaulx 

FEW  views  are  more  fascinating  than  that  of  the 
ruins  of  Rievaulx  seen  from  the  great  grass  ter- 
race above  them  and  through  the  w^oods  which 
clothe  the  hillside  to  the  east  and  north.  The  abbey 
lies  in  a  hollow  on  the  bank  of  the  little  river  Rie  in 
Yorkshire,  just  where  three  valleys  meet,  and  the  Rie 
draws  off  two  other  streams  with  it  and  carries  them 
together  towards  the  larger  Derwent.  Though  now 
there  is  a  sense  of  peace  and  security  in  the  valley  of 
Rhidal,  even  whilst  the  gaunt  skeleton  of  the  church 
lifts  its  roofless  gables  and  broken  pillars  to  the  heavens, 
it  is  quite  possible  to  pifture  the  place  before  the  civi- 
lizing presence  of  the  white  monks  had  set  its  mark 
upon  hollow  and  hill,  as  the  locus  horroris  et  Ipastce  soii- 
tudinis,  the  "  awe-inspiring  and  solitary  place,"  it  is  de- 
scribed to  be  in  the  earliest  account  we  have  of  it. 

In  1 123  St  Bernard  sent  some  of  his  monks  of  the 
Cistercian  Order  from  Clairvaux  to  England  to  make 
a  foundation  in  this  place.  Three  years  later  Walter 
Espec,  a  man  of  good  position,  gave  the  Cistercians  as 
their  first  home  in  Yorkshire  a  place  called  Blackmore, 
in  the  woods  not  far  from  Hemelac,  now  called  Helmes- 
ley.  There  in  1 1  3  i  they  began  their  religious  life  calling 

159 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  new  foundation  "Our  Lady  of  Rievaulx."  In  1 1 36 
the  same  generous  benefa(5tor  established  the  Cistercian 
house  of  Wardon  in  Bedfordshire,  and  then  in  1150, 
giving  up  his  property  to  his  children,  he  retired  to 
Rievaulx  and  lived  there  with  the  monks  for  two  years 
before  his  death  in  1 152. 

The  first  abbot  of  Rievaulx  was  a  monk  named 
William,  one  of  St  Bernard's  own  disciples.  He  immedi- 
ately commenced  the  building  of  the  monastery,  and 
devoted  himself  at  the  same  time  to  the  training  of  his 
monks.  In  the  Cistercian  annals  this  abbot  is  specially 
noted  for  the  holiness  of  his  life;  and  in  one  list  of  the 
early  Cistercians  he  is  even  called  by  the  name  of  the 
"Blessed  William."  Abbot  William  was  succeeded  in 
1 1 50  by  his  more  celebrated  disciple  St  .^Elred,  one  of  the 
first  Englishmen  to  join  the  community  after  its  coming 
to  settle  at  Rievaulx.  Very  early  in  his  religious  career 
^Ired  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  novices,  and 
later  was  sent  out  in  charge  of  a  colony  from  Rievaulx 
which  was  to  establish  itself  at  Revesby  or  Rewesby, 
in  Lincolnshire.  iElred  was  a  writer  of  considerable 
repute,  both  as  an  historian  and  as  a  master  of  the 
spiritual  life.  The  history  of  "The  Battle  of  the  Stan- 
dard" is  known  only  through  his  description  and  the 
Genealogia  Regum  Anglorum  was  composed  to  instruct 
Prince  Henry,  afterwards  King  Henry  II,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Saxon  Kings.  St  iElred  suffered  all  his  life 
from  ill-health,  and  for  years  before  he  died  he  was 

hardly  ever  free  from  pain.  One  picture  we  get  of  him 

160 


Rieyaulx 
whilst  Abbot  of  Rievaulx,  a  short  time  before  his  death, 
is  that  of  a  monk  wrapped  in  a  cloak,  sitting  on  a  mat 
spread  on  the  floor  before  the  fire.  He  is  racked  with 
pain,  and  so  doubled  up  that  his  head  rests  almost  be- 
tween his  knees. 

Besides  Revesby,  of  which  mention  has  already  been 
made,  Rievaulx  established  the  more  celebrated  house 
of  Melrose,  in  Scotland.  It  is  said  that  it  was  the  beauty 
of  the  life  led  at  Rievaulx  that  induced  some  of  the 
monks  of  St  Mary's,  York,  to  yearn  for  the  same  and  to 
leave  their  own  cloister  for  Fountains  in  search  for  it. 

The  church  is  343  feet  long,  and  on  account  of  the 
situation  of  the  ground  between  the  steep  hill  and  the 
river  Rie,  it  has  been  set  north  and  south.  The  choir 
and  chancel  occupy  seven  bays;  the  nave  is  166  feet 
long  and  the  crossing  arch  70  feet  high.  The  transepts 
are  partly  Norman,  the  upper  portion  being  Early 
English.  The  refedory,  built  over  some  cellarage, 
shows  the  remains  of  a  reading  pulpit,  and  there  are 
vestiges  more  or  less  distinct  of  the  dormitory  and 
other  domestic  buildings. 

The  story  of  Rievaulx  is  that  of  a  house  which  went 
on  in  the  even  tenor  of  its  Cistercian  ways.  No  diffi- 
culty other  than  occasional  differences  as  to  tithes  and 
pensions  and  taxes  appears  to  have  troubled  the  calm 
serenity  of  the  monks  in  their  peaceful  valley  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rie.  It  was  by  no  means,  however,  an  idle 
or  useless  life  that  they  led  in  their  seclusion,  although 
perhaps,  with  the  exception  of  Abbot  iElred  they  have 

i6i  II 


The  Greater  Ahheys 
left  us  but  little  evidence  of  their  literary  activity.  Their 
daily  and  nightly  round  of  service  would  probably 
prove  more  than  sufficient  for  most  of  us  w^ho  live  in  the 
twentieth  century.  To  rise  at  midnight,  night  after  night ; 
to  take  part  for  a  couple  of  hours  of  the  night,  winter 
and  summer,  year  in,  year  out,  in  the  solemn  chanting  in 
the  church;  then  to  return  to  bed,  to  make  up  the  night's 
rest  that  had  been  broken,  only  to  be  roused  once  more 
in  the  very  early  morning  to  continue  the  round  of 
God's  praises,  with  practically  little  cessation,  till  the 
midday  meal;  to  sit  in  the  unwarmed  cloister  and 
study;  to  read  books  not  of  choice  but  those  appointed; 
to  labour  for  a  time  for  exercise  and  recreation  in  the 
garden  or  in  the  field;  to  have  long  fasts  and  absti- 
nences; to  keep  hours  of  silence;  and  to  do  all  these 
things,  not  as  an  experiment,  or  for  a  day  or  a  week, 
but  for  a  lifetime,  required  a  real  calling  and  real  en- 
thusiasm. It  was  a  life  that  could  only  be  lived  at  all  in 
virtue  of  the  help  derived  from  the  thought  that  God 
had  given  the  soul  His  personal  summons  to  serve  Him 
in  this  way.  We  may — no  doubt  many  in  these  days 
will — consider  such  a  life  very  unnecessary  and  very  use- 
less ;  but  at  least  we  may  recognize  that  it  was  not  a  sloth- 
ful life  nor  yet  an  idle  one,  and  that  years  and  centuries 
of  such  a  life  were  passed  without  any  record  except  that 
entered  in  the  Book  of  Life.  It  is  only  the  trouble,  the 
difficulty  and  the  scandal  that  has  found  its  way  into  the 
pages  of  Register  or  chronicle;  the  daily  routine  of 
duty  is  passed  by  without  a  notice  or  comment. 

162 


bL~n 


1^, 


Rieyaulx 
The  last  abbot  of  Rievaulx  was  Richard  Blyton, 
appointed  when  the  clouds  which  portended  the  storm 
that  overwhelmed  the  religious  houses  in  the  sixteenth 
century  were  already  gathering.  There  were,  indeed, 
reports  and  prophecies  about  the  impending  cata- 
strophe rife  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rievaulx,  and 
men  were  thought  to  be  casting  envious  eyes  upon  the 
property  of  the  monks  long  before  the  end  came.  The 
following  lines  were  actually  quoted  in  the  abbey  before 
the  dissolution  : 

Two  men  came  riding  over  Hackney  way, 
The  one  on  a  black  horse,  the  other  on  a  grey; 
The  one  unto  the  other  did  say 
Loo  yonder  stood  Revess,  that  fair  abbay. 

To  these  lines  in  the  manuscript  is  appended  the 
following  note  :  "  Henry  Cawton,  a  monk,  some  time 
of  Reves  abbey  in  Yorkshire,  affirmed  that  he  had  often 
read  this  in  a  manuscript  belonging  to  that  abbey,  con- 
taining many  prophecies,  and  was  extant  there  before 
the  Dissolution.  But  when  he  or  any  other  of  his  fel- 
lows read  it,  they  used  to  throw  away  the  book  in 
anger,  as  thinking  it  impossible  ever  to  come  to  pass." 
Henry  Cawton,  alias  Thirsk,  was  one  of  the  monks 
who  signed  the  deed  of  surrender  on  December  3, 

1539- 

There  had  been  considerable  difficulty  with  the  pre- 
vious abbot,  probably  about  1535,  in  regard  to  his 
refusal  to  carry  out  the  King's  desires.  He  had  shown 
himself  very  independent,  had  pleaded  exemption  from 

163  iia 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
such  visitations  as  Henry  proposed,  and  even  the  abbot 
of  Fountains,  who  was  called  in  to  try  and  bring  him 
to  a  better  mind,  failed  to  do  so.  He  gave  a  protest  in 
Latin,  and  said  that  if  the  King  had  jurisdiction  the 
letters  were  evidently  obtained  by  fraud  and  surrepti- 
tiously, and  "was  from  Mr  Crumwell  only."  Of  course 
this  was  sufficient ;  it  was  impossible  to  tolerate  such 
"  dissolute  living,"  since  "this  rebellious  mind  at  this 
time  is  so  radicate,  not  only  in  him,  but  also  in  many 
of  the  religious." 

All  this  and  much  more  one  of  Crumwell's  agents 
writes  to  his  master.  The  sequel  does  not  appear,  but 
the  abbot,  William  Helmesly,who  had  held  office  since 
1513,  was  somehow  compelled  to  resign  and  Richard 
Blynton  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  William  Helmesly 
does  not  admit  that  his  act  was  rightly  called  a  "  resig- 
nation," and  in  a  letter,  addressed  to  Crumwell  himself, 
he  speaks  of  his  having  been  "  deposed."  A  difficulty 
subsequently  arose  about  the  pension  that  was  promised 
him,  and  the  abbots  of  Fountains  and  Byland  were 
appointed  by  Crumwell  to  determine  the  amount.  This 
they  did  at  Ripon,  where,  having  discussed  the  matter 
with  the  actual  abbot  and  his  predecessor,  they  fixed 
the  pension  at  jf 44  a  year. 

The  commissioners  to  take  surrenders  of  religious 
houses  arrived  in  Yorkshire  at  the  beginning  of  De- 
cember 1539.  Their  names  were  George  Lawson, 
Richard  Bellassis,  William  Blithman  and  James  Roke- 
by.  On  the   fifteenth  of  that  month  they  wrote   to 

164 


KIEVAULX    ABBEY    FROM    THE    TERRACE 


RieDauix 

Crumwell  from  York  that  they  had  "  quietly  taken 
the  surrender,"  and  dissolved  five  or  six  abbeys  and 
friaries  and  had  arranged  about  the  safe  custody  of  the 
lead  and  bells.  One  of  the  houses  mentioned  was  Rie- 
vaulx,  which  these  agents  had  reached  from  Byland  on 
December  3,  1539.  The  accounts  of  these  officials 
subsequently  presented  to  the  Augmentation  Office 
afford  us  some  particulars.  The  goods  of  the  abbey 
when  sold  produced  £281  5s.  4d. ;  the  lead  from  the 
roofs  and  gutters  had  been  melted  down  to  140  fodders, 
and  there  were  five  bells,  whether  broken  up  or  still 
whole  is  not  stated.  The  plate  of  the  abbey  is  set 
down  as  522  ounces,  including  ten  chalices  weighing 
185  ounces.  Of  these  items  the  plate  had  been  sent  up 
to  London,  and  also  j(^i  8 1  5s.  4d.  had  been  paid  to  the 
royal  treasury.  Pensions  had  been  promised  to  the  abbot 
and  twenty-three  religious,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
account  these  had  been  paid.  The  abbot  also  had  been 
given  the  debts  due  to  the  house.  In  a  subsequent 
pension  list  the  name  of  the  late  abbot  is  found  set 
down  as  having  a  claim  for   his  promised  pension 

of  iC44- 

The  account  likewise  mentions  that  at  Rievaulx 
there  were  ninety-one  retainers  of  all  kinds,  besides  the 
"  kitchen-boy,"  who  received  two  shillings  on  his  dis- 
missal, Thomas  the  plumber  and  six  chorister  boys, 
who  got  three  shillings  each.  When  the  Dissolution  had 
been  effected,  the  ruins  were  left  to  decay.  The  very 
seclusion  of  the  spot,  perhaps,  has  served  to  preserve  the 

165 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
ruin  better  than  we  might  have  expected  after  three- 
and-a-half  centuries   of  neglect.    Even    fallen,   moss- 
grown  and  damp-stained  as  it  is,  the  choir  of  Rievaulx 
church  remains  one  of  the  most  glorious  works   of 


English  medieval  architecture. 


i66 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Romsey 

ROMSEY  was  an  ancient  abbey  of  nuns  pleas- 
antly placed  on  the  banks  of  the  Test  in  Hamp- 
shire. At  one  time,  no  doubt,  the  ground  round 
about  was  marshy,  and  the  church  and  domestic  build- 
ings were  set  on  an  island  or  raised  ground  in  the  sur- 
rounding low-lying  country,  always  of  a  swampy 
nature,  and  at  times,  when  the  Test  overstepped  its 
bounds,  practically  impassable.  This,  at  least,  is  what 
we  should  expect  from  the  nature  of  the  situation 
as  we  survey  it  to-day,  and  indeed  it  is  what  the 
name  of  Romsey,  or  "  Reed  Island,"  would  convey 
to  us. 

The  abbey  was  Benedictine,  and,  according  to  some 
authorities,  was  founded  by  a  Saxon  nobleman  named 
Ethelwold  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Elder  for 
a  community  of  nuns  placed  under  the  care  of  Elfleda, 
Ethelwold's  daughter.  We  are  on  surer  ground  when 
we  come  to  the  reign  of  King  Edgar.  In  967  the 
monastery,  which  had  previously  been  destroyed,  was 
rebuilt,  and  the  new  community  were  placed  under 
the  Abbess  Merwenna.  In  the  same  year  the  church 
was  finished  and  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and 
St   Elfleda   at   Whitsuntide    in    the    King's  presence. 

167 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

Peter  Langtoft,  writing  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
whilst  praising  Edgar  because  : 

Mikille  he  wirschipped  God  and  served  our  Lady 
The  abbey  of  Rumsaye  he  fefFed  richly, 

says  that  he  placed  there  a  hundred  nuns,  and  though 
this  may  have  been  at  the  time  somewhat  of  a  poetical 
licence,  at  the  time  he  wrote  a  hundred  may  well  have 
been  the  number  of  the  religious  in  the  cloister  of 
Romsey,  and  we  know  that  at  one  election  of  an 
abbess  about  this  period  ninety  nuns  gave  their  votes. 

Before  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  it  seems  most 
probable  that  Romsey  suffered,  if  not  extinction, 
at  least  great  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Danes. 
In  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  under  the  year  994  we 
read  that  Olaf  and  Sweyn  came  to  London  on  Septem- 
ber 8  with  ninety-four  ships.  They  were  repulsed  and 
sailed  down  the  Thames,  "  and  then  they  went  thence 
and  wrought  the  greatest  evil  that  ever  any  army  could 
do,  in  burning  and  in  harrying  and  in  manslayings,  as 
well  by  the  sea  coast  as  in  Essex  and  in  Kent  and  in 
Sussex  and  in  Hampshire,  etc.,  and  all  the  army  then 
came  to  Southampton,  and  there  took  winter  quarters." 
With  the  enemy  so  near  to  Romsey  as  Southampton, 
it  is  hardly  likely  that  the  convent  would  have  escaped 
pillage  at  least  and  probably  destruction.  It  is  possible 
to  conjecture  that  the  nuns  may  have  fled  for  protec- 
tion to  Winchester. 

The  absence  of  any  chronicle  of  Romsey  makes  it 
impossible  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  house  in  any 

168 


^i^ 


'    Tj 


^ 


^ 


Ro7nsey 
detail.  In  1085  the  aS^xo;?  C/6rc'«/c/<?  notes  that  Chris- 
tina, the  sister  of  Edgar  Atheling  took  the  veil  among 
the  nuns  here.  In  process  of  time  her  niece — the  daugh- 
ter of  her  sister  Margaret  —  St  Margaret  of  Scotland, 
who  had  married  Malcolm  III,  is  said  to  have  con- 
fided to  the  care  of  the  nuns  of  Romsey  her  daughter 
Matilda,  afterv^ards  knovi^n  as  Queen  Maud  the  Good 
of  England.  In  the  tw^elfth  century  Mary,  the  only 
living  daughter  of  King  Stephen,  became  a  nun  in 
this  abbey  and  in  process  of  time  abbess.  She  subse- 
quently caused  great  scandal  throughout  England  by 
leaving  her  convent  and  secretly  marrying  Matthew, 
Earl  of  Boulogne  and  Mortaigne.  As  she  was  under 
the  vow  of  chastity  by  the  laws  of  the  church,  her 
marriage  was  null  and  void,  and  she  was  compelled  to 
return  to  her  convent.  The  two  daughters  of  the  union 
were  subsequently  legitimated  by  Parliament  in  1 189. 
The  Great  Pestilence  of  1349  wrought  great  havoc 
in  the  community  of  Romsey.  At  the  election  of  Jean 
Jacke  as  abbess  in  1333  ninety  nuns  were  present  and 
recorded  their  votes.  Sixteen  years  later  she  died,  in 
I  349,  and  a  successor  was  elected  in  the  person  of  Joan 
Gervays  who  received  the  royal  assent  on  May  7.  We 
have  no  detailed  account  of  the  death-roll  in  the  con- 
vent, but  we  may  judge  how  terrible  must  have  been 
the  losses  by  the  fact  that  the  number  of  the  nuns  are 
found  to  have  been  reduced  to  eighteen  in  1478  and 
they  never  rose  above  twenty-five  until  their  final 
suppression.    In  fact,  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  nuns 

i6q 


The  Greater  Ahheys 
of  the  Winchester  diocese  found  in  Bishop  Edyndon, 
during  the  terrible  scourge  of  the  fourteenth  century 
and  after,  a  special  patron,  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  Romsey  as  well  as  many  other  convents  would 
have  been  unable  to  recover  the  disaster.  In  a  docu- 
ment addressed  to  the  bishop  when  the  danger  was 
passed  they  say  that  "he  counted  it  a  pious  and  pleas- 
ing thing  mercifully  to  come  to  their  assistance  when 
overwhelmed  by  poverty,  and  in  days  when  evil-doing 
was  on  the  increase  and  the  world  was  growing  worse, 
and  they  were  compelled  by  necessity  to  beg  in  se- 
cret. It  was  at  such  a  time  that  the  same  father  with 
the  eye  of  compassion,  seeing  that  from  the  beginning 
the  monastery  was  slenderly  provided  for  with  land 
and  possessions  and  that  now  we  and  our  house,  by 
the  barrenness  of  our  land,  by  the  destruction  of  our 
woods,  and  by  the  diminution  or  taking  away  from 
the  monastery  of  due  and  appointed  rents,  because  of 
the  dearth  of  tenants  carried  off  by  the  unheard-of  and 
unwonted  pestilence"  come  to  our  assistance  to  avert 
our  entire  undoing. 

The  church  as  it  now  stands  measures  240  feet  in 
length,  the  presbytery  52  feet  and  the  transept  121 
feet;  the  low  central  tower  is  about  100  feet  high. 
The  whole  structure  is  mainly  Norman,  although  the 
western  bays  of  the  nave  are  Early  English  and  the 
eastern  bays  as  high  as  the  clerestory.  The  choir  ex- 
tends into  the  central  crossing,  and  the  transepts  have 

eastern  apsidal  chapels.   The  domestic  buildings  have 

170 


.  I  ■  ii. 


ROMSEV    AUBEY  :     THE    NUNS    UOOKWAV 


Romsey 

entirely  disappeared,  and  perhaps  the  only  relic  of  the 
whole  is  the  interesting  carved  ancient  crucifix,  which 
stood  outside  the  door  leading  from  the  cloister  to  the 
church  at  the  place  where  the  nuns  used  to  assemble 
before  their  choir  duties. 

In  1523  the  last  abbess  of  Romsey  was  elected  in 
the  person  of  Elizabeth  Ryprose  and  in  the  Valor 
Ecclesiasticus  of  Henry  VIII  the  net  value  of  the 
possessions  are  given  as  just  over  ^393  ^  year.  The 
convent  did  not,  therefore,  come  under  the  provisions 
of  the  act  suppressing  the  lesser  religious  houses  in 
1536.  The  ultimate  fate  of  the  place  affords  an  ex- 
ample of  the  personal  pressure  that  was  exerted  by  the 
King's  agents  on  the  superiors  of  the  greater  abbeys 
to  obtain  their  surrender  into  the  King's  hands.  On 
the  eve  of  its  dissolution  Romsey  maintained  a  commu- 
nity of  twenty-five  nuns.  They  appear  to  have  been 
unwilling  to  fall  in  with  the  King's  views  and  by 
abandoning  their  religious  life,  to  allow  their  pro- 
perty to  pass  into  Henry's  possession.  The  community 
shows  great  vitality  and  about  a  third  of  its  members 
had  made  their  religious  profession  after  July  28, 
1534.  One  of  these  was  Catherine,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Nicholas  Wadham,  at  that  time  Governor 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  whose  elder  sister  Jane  had 
been  for  some  years  a  professed  nun  in  the  abbey.  At 
this  time  the  convent  steward  was  a  certain  John 
Foster,  who  had  a  house  at  Raddesley  near  Romsey. 
His  position  would  have  given  him  accurate  infor- 

171 


Homsey 

mation  as  to  the  extent  and  value  ot  the  Romsey  pro- 
perty, and  his  necessary  intercourse  would  have  afforded 
him  the  means  of  bringing  influence  to  bear  upon  the 
nuns.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  to  find  that  Foster 
was  selected  by  the  royal  agent  for  this  service  and 
that  he  sounded  the  nuns  as  to  their  dispositions  to  do 
Henry's  will  and  let  him  have  their  property. 

In  the  report  John  Foster  sent  to  Sir  William  Sey- 
mour, he  says:  "According  to  your  request  I  herein 
signify  and  subscribe  unto  you  the  state  of  the  house 
of  Romsey — First  you  shall  understand  that  the  house 
is  out  of  debt;  also  the  plate  and  jewels  are  worth 
£300  and  more;  Six  bells  are  worth  jC^oo  ^^  least; 
also  the  church  is  a  great  sumptuous  thing  all  free 
stone  and  covered  with  lead,  which,  as  I  esteem  it,  is 
worth  ^300  or  £400  or  rather  better."  Foster  then 
goes  on  to  give  particulars  of  the  rents  coming  to  the 
house  from  the  lands,  on  some  at  least  of  which  Sey- 
mour had  set  his  heart.  He  then  concludes:  "And 
where  you  wrote,  that  I  should  ascertain  you  whether 
I  thought  that  the  abbess  with  the  rest  of  the  nuns 
would  be  content  to  surrender  up  their  house:  the 
truth  is  I  do  perceive  throughout  the  motion  that  your 
kinswomen  and  other  of  your  friends  made  for  you, 
that  they  would  be  content  at  all  times  to  do  you  any 
pleasure  they  may.  But  I  perceive  they  would  be  loath 
to  trust  to  the  Commissioners'  gentlemen,  for  they 
hearsay  that  other  houses  have  been  straightly  handled." 

The  kinswomen  of  Seymour  in  the  convent  by  whom 

172 


Romsey 

Foster  hoped  to  accomplish  the  voluntary  surrender 
were  Catherine  Wadham,  subprioress,  her  sister,  and 
Elizabeth  Hill.  Apparently,  however,  his  design  was 
unsuccessful,  for  no  surrender  deed  of  the  abbey  is 
extant,  neither  are  the  names  of  either  the  abbess  or 
her  nuns  found  on  the  pension  lists. 

The  year  1539  saw  the  end  of  the  corporate  exis- 
tence of  the  convent  of  Romsey.  The  destruction  of 
the  domestic  buildings  at  once  commenced,  and  if  to- 
day the  "great  sumptuous  church,"  as  John  Foster 
called  it,  is  still  standing,  we  owe  it  not  to  any  regard 
for  it  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  but  to  a  purchase 
made  on  February  20,  1545,  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town.  The  deed  shows  that  they  paid  >Cioo  ^^^  the 
pile,  and  as  this  sum  is  much  below  the  estimate  of 
John  Foster,  it  is  possible  that  in  the  five  intervening 
years  the  place  may  have  been  much  despoiled  and  de- 
faced. 


173 


CHAPTER  XX 

Sherborne 

SHERBORNE  ABBEY  in  Dorset  was  anciently 
the  seat  of  a  bishop.  According  to  our  historians, 
about  the  year  705  the  west  Saxon  See  of  Dor- 
chester was  divided,  and  whilst  Bishop  Daniel  kept  his 
chair  at  Winchester,  St  Aldhelm  became  first  bishop  of 
the  See  of  Sherborne,  which  comprised  the  counties  of 
Wilts,  Dorset,  Berks,  Somerset,  Devon  and  Cornwall. 
Sherborne  itself  is  described  by  William  of  Malmesbury 
as  having  been  a  very  insignificant  town,  and  he  expresses 
his  astonishment  at  its  having  remained  for  so  long  a 
time  a  Cathedral  city.  The  ereftion  of  other  Sees  round 
about  in  the  tenth  century,  and  the  division  of  the 
diocese  territorially  finally  left  Sherborne  with  only  the 
county  of  Dorset  as  its  share  of  what  had  been  a  most 
extensive  diocese.  As  an  episcopal  seat  it  came  to  an 
end  in  1078  when,  having  been  united  in  1058  with 
Ramsbury  by  Bishop  Herman,  it  was  finally  merged 
into  the  new  diocese  of  Salisbury. 

The  first  bishop  of  Sherborne,  St  Aldhelm,  was  an 
interesting  personality.  It  is  claimed  for  him  that  he 
was  the  first  Englishman  who  wrote  in  Latin,  and  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  having  been  the  first  to  introduce 
poetry  into  the  country.  William  of  Malmesbury  in 

174 


Sherborne 
relating  his  life  describes  the  people  of  this  part  of  the 
country  in  Aldhelm's  time  as  half  barbarians.  It  was 
difficult  to  instruct  them  as  they  were  little  disposed  to 
come  to  church  or  to  listen  to  discourses  on  religion. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  attra6t  them,  the  bishop,  who 
was  a  musician  of  no  mean  parts,  used  to  place  him- 
self on  a  bridge  with  an  instrument  and  sing  to  the 
passers-by  ballads  of  his  own  composition.  Mixing 
grave  things  with  those  of  a  lighter  vein,  the  Saint 
gradually  won  the  attention  and  then  the  hearts  of  the 
people  to  religious  matters. 

The  adiual  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  monks 
at  Sherborne  is  doubtful.  In  the  tenth  century,  as  in  so 
many  other  ancient  monastic  establishments,  secular 
canons  certainly  had  possession  of  the  place.  In  998, 
however.  Bishop  Wulsin  substituted  Benedi6line  monks 
for  the  priests  who  were  then  serving  the  church.  The 
charter  of  King  Ethelred  giving  full  permission  for  the 
change  is  extant,  and  from  that  time  its  connexion  with 
the  Benedi(5tine  Order  is  clear.  At  first,  of  course,  whilst 
bishops  still  ruled  the  See  of  Sherborne,  the  head  of  the 
monastery  would  have  been,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
monastic  cathedrals,  a  prior.  The  bishop  was  held  to 
have  the  position  of  abbot,  and  in  many  cases  had  more 
or  less  pradtical  jurisdi6lion  over  the  cloister  as  well  as 
theappointment  of  many  of  the  officials.  When  in  1075 
the  See  of  Sherborne  became  merged  in  that  of  Old 
Sarum  or  Salisbury,  the  office  of  prior  was  apparently 
continued,  till  some  time  about  the  year  1 122,  when 

175 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
bishop  Roger  of  Salisbury,  having  united  the  Priory 
of  Horton  to  Sherborne,  erefted  the  latter  into  an  abbey 
and  blessed  the  Prior  Thurstan  as  its  first  abbot. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  St  Stephen  Harding, 
the  second  founder  of  Citeaux  and  the  one  who  really 
drew  up  the  Cistercian  rule,  was  a  monk  from  Sher- 
borne. He  received  his  education  in  the  monastery, 
and  three  of  the  monks  who  joined  him  at  Citeaux  are 
said  to  have  also  come  from  the  abbey. 

The  redory  of  Sherborne,  which  in  the  "taxation 
of  Pope  Nicholas,"  was  valued  at  sixty  marks,  was  a 
prebend  of  Salisbury  and  a  peculiar  of  that  See.  The 
abbot  held  a  singular  position  in  virtue  of  his  office 
as  head  of  the  Church  at  Sherborne;  he  was  a  preben- 
dary of  Sahsbury  and  had  his  stall  in  the  cathedral. 
This  prebend  was  held  by  each  successive  abbot  until 
the  dissolution  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  being 
considered  as  part  of  the  office  of  abbot  then  suppressed, 
it  became  extin6l. 

With  the  erection  of  the  monastery  into  an  abbey, 
the  work  of  rebuilding  and  reconstruction  began. 
When  it  was  over,  all  that  was  left  of  the  older  struc- 
ture was  the  western  doorway  in  the  north  aisle  and  a 
part  of  the  adjoining  wall-work.  Bishop  Roger  of 
Salisbury  manifested  his  continued  interest  in  the  abbey 
by  building  the  piers  of  the  tower  and  a  chapel  in  the 
north  transept.  The  south  porch  was  also  the  work  of 
his  time,  and  then  also  the  choir  was  arranged  under 
the  tower.  In  the  thirteeth  century  the  Lady  chapel 

176 


Sherborne 

was  rebuilt,  and  in  the  following  century  four  windows 
were  placed  in  the  north  aisle,  but  these  must  soon 
have  been  blocked  up  by  the  building  of  the  cloisters. 
These  cloisters  were  probably  not  unlike  those  of 
Gloucester;  they  had  six  windows  or  bays  in  each  walk, 
and  the  vaulting  was  in  the  style  known  as  "  fan- 
traceried." 

At  the  western  end  of  the  church  stood  the  parish 
church  of  All  Hallows,  built  upon  the  site  of  a  great 
western  porch  twenty-nine  feet  broad,  which  originally 
had  opened  into  the  nave  by  a  double  row  of  pillars 
and  small  arches.  This  parish  church  had  been  re- 
moved out  of  the  nave  of  the  abbey  church,  and  the 
abbot  built  a  smaller  doorway  in  the  Norman  arch, 
which  greatly  irritated  the  people  already  apparently 
opposed  to  their  removal  from  the  church.  Leland  in 
his  Itinerary  has  left  us  a  quaint  account  of  what  hap- 
pened as  the  result  of  the  existing  popular  ill-feeling. 
"  The  body  of  the  abbey  church,"  he  says,  "  dedicated 
to  Our  Lady,  served  until  a  hundred  years  since  for 
the  chief  parish  church  of  the  town.  This  was  the 
cause  of  the  abolition  of  the  parish  church  there:  the 
monks  and  the  townsmen  fell  at  variance  because 
the  townsmen  took  privilege  to  use  the  sacrament  of 
Baptism  in  the  chapel  of  All  Hallows.  Upon  this 
Walter  Gallow,  a  stout  butcher  living  in  Sherborne, 
defaced  clean  the  font  stone;  and  after,  the  variance 
growing  to  a  plain  sedition,  the  townsmen  by  the  help 
of  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon — and  the  bishop  of  Salisbury 

177  12 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

on  the  monks*  part — a  priest  of  All  Hallows  shot  a  shaft 
with  fire  into  the  top  of  that  part  of  St  Mary's  church 
that  divided  the  east  part  that  the  monks  used  from 
what  the  townsmen  used.  This  portion  chancing  at  that 
time  to  be  thatched,  the  roof  was  set  on  fire,  and  con- 
sequently the  whole  church,  and  the  lead  and  bells 
melted."  The  Lady  chapel  and  the  porch  alone  escaped, 
and  what  is  called  "  the  red  stain  of  fire  "  may  still  be 
seen  on  the  walls  of  the  church. 

This  was  in  1436,  and  the  abbot  of  the  day — Abbot 
Bradford — set  to  work  at  once  to  repair  the  disaster. 
He  forced  the  townsfolk  to  contribute  towards  the 
rebuilding  of  the  presbytery,  on  the  bosses  of  which 
he  carved  a  fiery  arrow  as  a  warning  against  further 
feuds.  The  new  vaulting  was  constructed  in  the  pecu- 
liar fan-tracery  pattern  of  the  cloister.  In  1459  the 
Norman  triforium  and  clerestory  of  five  bays  of  the 
nave  were  pulled  down,  the  south  aisle  was  refaced 
with  the  old  materials,  and  the  new  windows  inserted. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  century  the  aisles  were  vaulted, 
and  this  was  apparently  the  last  great  work  done  by 
the  monks. 

Of  the  domestic  buildings  some  small  portions  alone 
remain.  On  the  west  side  the  cellarer's  lodging  or  guest 
hall  with  a  fine  fifteenth-century  roof,  over  a  thirteenth- 
century  undercroft,  still  exists,  and  to  the  north  of 
these  there  are  remains  of  the  abbot's  quarters;  his 
parlour  and  guest  hall  for  example.  Near  the  site  of 
the  refectory  is  the  convent  kitchen  containing  a  fire- 

178 


SUliKBOKNE    ABBIiY  :     CHOIR    AND    EAST    WINDOW 


Sherborne 
place  carved  with  the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists.  The 
cloisters  are  entirely  gone  and  the  hexagonal  vaulted  con- 
duit of  1 5 1  o,  which  used  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the  cloister 
garth,  now  stands  in  a  position  in  the  town.  Leland  calls 
it  "a  fair  castle  over  the  conduit  in  the  cloister  and  the 
spouts  to  it,"  and  says  it  was  made  by  John  Meer  or 
Myer,  the  last  abbot  but  one,  who  resigned  m  1535. 

The  last  abbot,  John  Barnstable,  was  elefted  on 
May  31,  1535,  and  he  surrendered  the  monastery 
on  March  18,  1539.  The  deed  was  acknowledged  by 
his  signature  and  those  of  sixteen  monks,  who  all  got 
pensions.  The  historian  of  Dorset  says  that  on  January 
4,  1539,  the  King  demised  the  property  to  Sir  John 
Horsey,  Kt.  The  deed  in  which  this  grant  is  conveyed 
names  the  Great  Court,  the  Abbot's  Garden,  West 
Garden,  Pyggy's  Barton,  Prior's  Garden,  etc.,  all 
commonly  called  "the  demesne  lands  of  the  monas- 
tery," which  were  situated  in  Sherborne,  and  were  in 
the  occupation  of  the  abbot  for  the  use  of  the  house, 
for  keeping  up  hospitality,  etc.  It  would  appear  that 
Sir  John  Horsey  in  anticipation  of  the  surrender  on 
May  I,  1539,  paid  ^^1,242  3s.  9d.  to  the  King  for 
these  grants  and  at  the  same  time  ^16  i  os.  6d.  for  "the 
site  of  the  church,  steeple,  campanile  and  churchyard 
of  the  monastery,"  and  other  property. 

A  note  printed  by  Dugdale  from  the  parish  Register 
of  Sherborne  carries  the  history  of  the  sale  of  the  ruins 
a  step  further  and  explains  how  the  beautiful  church 
was  saved  from  destrudion.  The  note  runs:  "  The  feast 

179  12a 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

of  the  Annunciation  of  our  Lady  being  the  Shere  Thurs- 
day in  Ccena  Domini^  the  year  of  our  Lord  1540,  and 
the  thirty-first  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  King  Henry  VIII, 
the  monks  being  expelled  and  the  house  suppressed  by 
the  King's  authority.  Master  John  Horsey,  Kt.  Coun- 
cillor to  the  King's  Grace,  bought  the  said  suppressed 
house  to  himself  and  to  his  heirs  in  fee  for  ever,  and 
then  the  said  Master  Horsey,  Knight,  sold  the  said 
chiirch  and  the  ground  to  the  Vicar  and  parish  of 
Sherborne  for  1 00  marks,  to  them  and  their  successors 
for  ever,  and  the  said  Vicar  and  parish  took  possession 
on  the  same  day  and  year  above  said. — Per  me.  D. 
Johannem  Chattmyll,  Vicar."  This  is  probably  the 
correct  account:  another  story  says  that  the  parishioners 
paid  £230  for  their  church  to  Sir  John  Horsey,  and  in 
order  to  raise  the  money  sold  their  old  parish  church  of 
All  Hallov^s  for  the  materials.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  this  sum  refers  to  the  sale  of  the  roofing  of  the 
minster,  v^ith  that  of  the  bell  tow^er  and  dormitory,  the 
lead  of  w^hich  w^as  purchased  for  that  sum.  It  w^as  no 
doubt  owing  to  the  prompt  a6lion  of  the  townsfolk 
that  this  fine  minster  church  with  its  unrivalled  fan- 
groining — a  great  example  of  what  was  done  in  Eng- 
land for  architefture  even  during  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses — was  preserved  to  us.  Thomas  Arundell,  the 
King's  receiver  for  the  county  of  Dorset  acknowledges 
having  got  from  Sherborne  by  way  of  sales,  etc.,  during 
the  first  year  after  its  suppression  the  respeftable  sum 

of  £^$"2.0  6s.  8|d. 

180 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Titchfield 

AN  ABBEY  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary  and  St  John  the  Evangelist  was  founded 
in  the  year  1231  or  1232  at  Titchfield  in 
Hampshire  by  Peter  de  Rupibus,  bishop  of  Winchester. 
This  prelate  had  already  established  Hales  Owen,another 
house  of  the  same  Order  in  Shropshire,  and  he  brought 
thence  a  colony  of  religious  and  gave  them  his  manor 
of  Titchfield  for  the  purpose  of  a  second  foundation. 
The  abbey  was  placed  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Titch- 
field in  the  hollow  of  a  valley  which  reaches  down 
to  the  tidal  mouth  of  the  stream  which  there  finds  its 
way  to  the  sea  outside  the  Southampton  water. 

The  religious  were  of  the  Order  of  Premontre,  which 
had  been  founded  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury by  St  Norbert.  On  Christmas  Day,  1 1 2 1 ,  the  white 
habit  of  the  canons  regular  was  given  to  Norbert  and 
some  forty  companions  at  a  place  called  Premontre, 
in  the  diocese  of  Laon,  and  for  many  centuries  this 
monastery  remained  the  mother  house  of  the  Order, 
which  was  called  after  it  the  Premonstratensian  Order. 
The  first  monastery  of  white  canons  in  these  islands  was 
founded  in  Scotland  during  the  lifetime  of  St  Norbert. 
In  England,  the  first  colony  was  established  in  1 143  at 


i«i 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
Newhouse,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  community  being  fur- 
nished from  the  abbey  of  Lisques,  near  Calais.  Within 
loo  years  the  spread  of  the  new  Order  in  this  country 
had  been  phenomenal,  and  Newhouse  itself  had  estab- 
lished eleven  abbeys  in  various  parts  of  England.  Titch- 
field,  which  was  commenced  in  1231,  less  than  a  cen- 
tury after  the  new  Order  had  first  taken  root  in  the 
country,  was  pra6lically  the  last  of  the  English  founda- 
tions, which  numbered  in  all  thirty-five. 

Bishop  Peter  de  Rupibus  in  establishing  the  abbey 
reserved  to  himself  and  his  successors  in  the  See  of  Win- 
chester the  patronage  of  the  abbey,  which  remained  to 
them  in  right  of  the  bishopric  until  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries  in  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  upon 
August  15,  1 23 1,  that  Richard,  the  first  abbot,  and 
his  fellow  canons  reached  Titchfield  to  take  possession 
of  their  new  foundation,  and  in  memory  of  the  day  the 
house  was  dedicated  to  Our  Blessed  Lady  of  the  As- 
sumption. 

From  1232,  the  date  of  its  foundation,  to  1537,  that 
of  its  suppression,  the  monastery  was  ruled  by  a  line 
of  twenty  abbots.  Of  the  earlier  history  very  little  indeed 
is  known.  From  one  indication  it  would  appear  that 
the  Great  Pestilence  of  1349  visited  the  abbey  some- 
what severely.  The  abbot,  Peter  de  Wynton,  was  blessed 
only  on  June  8,  1348,  and  died  on  August  14,  1349. 
Possibly  also  the  predecessor  of  this  abbot,  John  de 
Combe,  who  died  on  May  23,  1348,  when  the  plague 
was  rife  in  the  diocese,  may  have  been  also  a  victim 


Ib2 


Titchjield 

of  this  great  scourge  which  carried  off  half  of  the 
population  of  England. 

In  1529  John  Max,  who  had  been  Abbot  of  Wel- 
beck  from  1 500  and  who  had  been  consecrated  bishop 
of  Elphin  in  1525,  was  eledled  abbot  of  Titchfield. 
From  that  time  till  1535,  when  he  died,  he  held  both 
it  andWelbeck  in  commendam.  The  last  abbot  was  named 
John  Sampson  or  Sympson,  and  he  ruled  only  till  1537, 
when  the  monastery  was  suppressed.  This  same  abbot 
was  also  a  bishop,  as  he  is  called  John  Salysbury,  suf- 
fragan bishop  of  Thetford. 

The  records  of  one  or  two  visitations  and  several 
lists  of  the  canons  in  the  last  decades  of  the  fifteenth 
century  afford  some  slight  details  about  this  house.  In 
1 478,  the  visitor  appointed  by  the  General  of  the  Order 
was  Bishop  Redman,  who  was  also  abbot  of  Shapp. 
He  came  to  Titchfield  on  July  2,  and  found  William 
Austen,  the  abbot,  and  a  community  of  thirteen  canons 
living  there  at  that  time.  He  reported  that  the  disci- 
pline was  excellent  and  that  he  had  seen  nothing  serious 
to  correal  or  to  report  to  the  General  Chapter.  To 
attain  to  greater  perfeftion  he  suggests  the  necessity  of 
a  better  keeping  of  silence  in  the  refe6tory  and  the 
utility  of  certain  minor  changes  in  ceremonial.  He 
notes  that  at  the  time  of  the  last  Visit  the  house  was 
^40  in  debt;  that  this  now  has  been  paid  off,  and  a 
good  provision  was  in  hand  in  the  way  of  stores,  etc. 

The  same  visitor  arrived  on  his  next  official  tour  on 
September  9,   1482.  The  number  of  the  community 

183 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
was  the  same,  although  many  names  in  the  previous 
list  had  disappeared  in  the  intervening  four  years,  their 
places  being  filled  by  others.  Special  commendation  is 
passed  on  the  abbot's  administration,  vv^hich  is  declared 
to  be  excellent.  Necessary  repairs  had  been  made  to 
the  old  buildings  and  nev^  ones  had  been  successfully 
undertaken.  Incidentally  we  hear  of  a  lake  that  was 
situated  within  the  enclosure;  because  in  the  case  of  one, 
Ralph  Axminster,  which  was  brought  up  for  Bishop 
Redman's  consideration,  it  is  said  that  he  had  left  the 
dormitory  at  night  to  catch  fish  in  it.  Financially,  the 
abbey  remained  in  the  same  excellent  state  as  before. 
Six  years  pass  before  the  next  visitation,  which  took 
place  on  July  23,  1488.  At  that  time  the  former  abbot, 
William  Austen,  had  been  dead  two  years,  and  Thomas 
Oke  or  Roke  was  reigning  in  his  stead.  According  to 
his  account  he  had  found  on  coming  to  office  that  the 
place  was  in  debt  ^100^  but  during  his  two  years  of 
office  he  had  managed  to  pay  off  half  of  this  sum.  For 
this  and  for  other  evidence  of  good  administration  in 
spirituals  and  temporals  he  was  praised  by  the  visitor. 
Three  years  later,  on  June   i,  1491,  the  visitor  was 
again  at  Titchfield.  There  had  been  rumours  set  about 
of  various  quarrels  amongst  the  community,  and  dis- 
sensions and  contentions  with  the  superior  were  spoken 
of  On  diligently  inquiring   into   the  matter,  Bishop 
Redman  confessed   himself  unable  to  find  anything 
very  serious,  and  contented  himself  with  a  general  ex- 
hortation to  greater  fraternal  charity  and  with  forbid- 

184 


Titchfield 

ding  all  to  speak  about  the  matters  at  issue  after  his 
departure.  Since  the  previous  visitation  the  debts  of 
the  house  had  been  diminished  by  {^lo. 

The  records  of  three  subsequent  visitations  exist : 
namely  those  of  1494,  1497  and  1500.  They  do  not 
materially  add  to  our  knowledge  of  the  abbey;  in  the 
first  it  is  interesting  to  hear  that  entire  peace  reigned 
in  the  place,  and  that,  although  the  house  was  still  in 
debt,  Bishop  Redman  thought  he  could  now  insist 
upon  the  building  of  a  proper  infirmary  for  the  sick 
and  old.  In  the  second  he  again  testifies  to  the  excellent 
condition  in  which  he  finds  the  discipline  of  the  es- 
tablishment;  and  in  the  third,  made  September  22, 
1 500,  he  prohibits  certain  changes  in  the  habit,  which 
were  creeping  in,  and  orders  greater  care  in  the  keep- 
ing of  silence.  He  ends  by  praising  the  abbot's  admi- 
nistration, by  which  Titchfield  is  once  more  entirely 
freed  from  the  burden  of  debt.  The  abbot,  Thomas 
Oke,  lived  for  eight  years  longer,  and  when  he  died, 
in  1 509,  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Blankepayne, 
who  appears  as  a  novice  in  the  list  of  1482,  and  had 
consequently  been  six-and-twenty  years  in  religion.  He 
died  in  1529. 

The  inventory  of  goods  made  on  the  election  of 
Richard  Aubray  as  abbot  of  Titchfield,  in  1 420,  affords 
us  a  glimpse  at  the  treasures  of  the  sacristy.  "  We 
found,"  say  the  commissioners,  "  in  charge  of  the 
sacrist  a  silver  gilt  cup,  to  place  the  Body  of  Christ  in, 
two  large  gilt  chalices  and  twelve  other  chalices,  of 

185 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

which  six  were  gilt,  one  great  gospel  book  with  divers 
relics,  a  silver  gilt  vase  with  feet  and  full  of  relics,  a 
great  silver  gilt  cross  with  the  images  of  Mary  and  John 
and  with  large  and  full-sized  feet,  a  processional  staff 
with  a  great  ball  of  silver  to  set  the  great  cross  in,  a 
small  silver  gilt  cross  ornamented  with  stones;  with  a 
small  ball  of  silver,  a  silver  gilt  textum  with  a  great  beryl 
and  a  list  of  the  dead  fixed  in  it,  two  cruets  of  silver  gilt, 
a  silver  gilt  vase  for  incense  with  a  silver  spoon,  two 
candlesticks  of  silver  gilt,  two  silver  dishes,  a  silver  gilt 
pastoral  staff,  a  box  containing  divers  jewels,  a  box  for 
a  chalice,  spoons  and  other  broken  silver,  with  the 
ancient  foot  of  a  small  cross,  a  pix  in  which  to  place 
the  Body  of  Christ. 

"Also  in  the  treasury  of  the  church  was  found  three 
silver  gilt  cups  with  feet,  two  with  covers,  three  pieces 
of  gilt  plate  with  covers  and  one  with  feet,  one  piece 
with  the  cover  gilt  on  the  inside,  two  gilt  spoons,  a 
salt  gilt  and  with  a  cover,  four  other  silver  salts,  two 
with  covers,  one  large  piece  of  silver  plate  with  a  cover, 
two  other  pieces  of  silver  plate  with  feet  and  covers,  a 
silver  pear-shaped  piece  for  powder,  four  silver  bowls 
with  feet  and  covers,  two  silver  plates,  two  silver  dishes, 
three  silver  basins,  two  silver  ewers,  a  silver  plate  with 
feet  for  spices,  five  cups  with  feet  and  covers,  a  piece 
of  plate  with  a  low  foot,  thirty-eight  pieces  of  silver, 
one  with  a  cover,  twenty-four  silver  spoons." 

I  have  given  a  translation  of  this  interesting  Inven- 
tory in  full,  as  an  example  of  the  riches  and  works  of 

i86 


Titchjiela 

art  which  must  have  been  gathered  together  in  the 
various  religious  houses  of  the  kingdom.  Of  these,  prac- 
tically no  trace  now  exists.  Titchfield  was,  of  course, 
after  all  only  one  of  the  smaller  abbeys  when  compared 
with  many  of  the  others,  and  to  have  a  knowledge  of 
the  existence  of  treasures  such  as  these  in  its  keeping 
in  the  fifteenth  century  sets  the  imagination  at  work 
to  picture  what  must  have  existed  elsewhere. 

For  Titchfield  we  have,  perhaps,  a  more  complete 
account  of  the  appearance  of  a  monastic  library  in  the 
fifteenth  century  than  for  any  other  place.  "There  are 
in  the  library  of  Titchfield,"  says  the  preface  of  the  old 
catalogue,  "four  cases  to  put  books  in.  Thus  on  the 
east  face  [i.e,  opposite  the  door]  there  are  two:  viz. 
[case]  one  and  [case]  two.  On  the  south  side  is  case 
three  and  on  the  north,  case  four." 

Each  of  these  cases  had  eight  shelves,  marked  with 
a  letter  of  the  alphabet,  which  represented  a  division 
of  the  library.  Thus  roughly  in  case  one  were  placed 
the  Bibles  and  the  patristic  glosses  on  Holy  Scripture; 
in  case  two  was  what  might  be  termed  the  theological 
portion  of  the  library;  in  case  three  the  sermons,  legends, 
regulae,  with  canon  and  civil  law;  whilst  case  four  con- 
tained books  upon  medical  and  surgical  science,  upon 
grammar,  logic  and  philosophy  as  well  as  a  division 
of  unclassed  volumes.  The  letters  of  the  alphabet 
aflx)rded  further  divisions:  thus,  B  was  fixed  to  seven 
shelves  of  case  one,  and  contained  the  various  glosses  on 
the  Bible;  and  D,  affixed  to  five  shelves  of  case  two,  was 

187 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
assigned  to  the  works  of  St  Gregory  and  St  Augustine. 
Lastly,  on  the  first  folio  of  each  volume  was  entered 
the  shelf  letter,  followed  by  a  number  naming  its 
position  on  the  shelf.  Thus,  to  take  an  example,  the 
volume  from  which  these  particulars  are  taken  is  called 
the  Rememoratorum  de  Tychefelde.  It  has  on  its  first  page 
the  press  mark  "P.X."  Turning  to  the  catalogue  we 
find  that  the  volume  is  entered  as  the  tenth  book  of 
shelf  P. 

The  same  number  of  canons  at  Titchfield  appears 
to  have  been  maintained  all  during  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, and  indeed  until  the  suppression  in  1539.  The 
abbey  escaped  the  fate  of  the  smaller  houses  in  1536, 
as  its  revenue  was  above  ^^200  a  year,  namely  £2^() 
1 6s.  id.  The  site  was  granted  by  Henry  VIII  to  Sir 
Thomas  Wriothesley,  who  commenced  at  once,  accord- 
ing toLeland,  to  build  "a  right  stately  house";  chiefly, 
adds  Dugdale,  "out  of  the  materials  of  the  abbey." 

A  report  "concerning  the  monastery  of  Titchfield" 
was  written  to  Sir  Thomas  Wriothesley  immediately 
after  he  had  got  possession  of  it.  It  runs  thus:  "The 
church  is  the  most  naked  and  barren  thing  that  ever  we 
knew,  being  of  such  antiquity  and  long  continuance.  The 
vestments  which  you  gave  and  two  old  chalices  ex- 
cepted, forty  will  be  the  rest.  At  Michaelmas  last 
there  were  two  team  of  oxen  and  now  not  one  ox,  but 
a  few  young  calves  and  lambs,  hogs  of  small  value; 
certain  brewing  vessels,  a  dozen  rusty  platters,  dishes 
and  saucers  ...    As  for  the  hangings  left  we  esteem 


Titchfield 

them  at  20s.  .  .  The  debts  amount  to  £^100.  The  abbot 
and  convent  look  by  promises  to  be  assured  during 
their  life  yearly  _^i  20;  as  you  do  know  the  abbot  must 
have  a  hundred  marks,  every  priest  £6  13s.  4d.,  being 
eight  in  number  and  three  novices  ^^5.  You  know  also 
that  the  house  oweth  the  King  for  the  first  fruits  above 
200  marks  and  surely  so  far  as  we  can  judge  the  trans- 
position and  alteration  of  the  house,  which  of  necessity 
must  be  done,  will  stand  you  in  300  marks  at  the  least." 


189 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Tintern 

THE  Cistercian  abbey  of  Tintern  is  regarded  as 
typical  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  picturesque 
in  the  ruined  abbeys  of  England.  Situated  on  a 
strip  of  level  ground  on  the  banks  of  the  romantic  river 
Wye,  and  backed  by  a  semicircle  of  heavily  wooded 
hills,  the  abbey  church  still  remains  almost  entire  as 
regards  its  main  architectural  features.  For  the  unri- 
valled beauty  of  its  situation  and  for  its  completeness 
even  in  its  ruined  state  Tintern  is  thought  by  many 
to  stand  first  among  similar  memorials  of  the  wanton 
destruction  wrought  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Our.  Lady  of  Tintern  was  founded  in  1 131  for  the 
Cistercian  Order  by  Walter  de  Clare,  the  grandson  of 
Walter  Fitzosbert,  Earl  of  Ew,  to  whom  the  Con- 
queror had  granted  the  land  in  this  part  which  he 
could  obtain  by  his  victories  over  the  Welsh.  Walter 
de  Clare's  son,  Gilbert  Stronbow,  became  the  first  Earl 
of  Pembroke,  and  when  he  came  to  die  in  1 148,  as  a 
generous  benefactor  he  was  buried  in  the  church  at 
Tintern.  His  son,  again,  was  Richard  de  Clare  or  Stron- 
bow, known  to  history  as  the  conqueror  of  Ireland  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  II.  It  has  been  thought  by  some 
that  he,  too,  was  buried  in  the  abbey  his  family  had 

190 


Tintern 
founded,  and  that  a  cross-legged  effigy  of  a  knight  in 
chain  armour  still  to  be  seen  in  the  ruins  is  his  monu- 
ment. 

The  monks  to  colonise  Tintern  came  from  the 
abbey  of  Aumone,  in  the  diocese  of  Chartres.  This 
monastery  had  itself  been  begun  only  ten  years  before, 
but  had  increased  sufficiently  to  find  an  abbot  and 
twelve  monks  for  the  new  venture  in  England — an 
instance  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Cistercian  move- 
ment in  the  first  half-century  of  its  existence.  Indeed, 
the  multiplication  of  these  houses  proceeded  at  such  a 
rate  that  it  became  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  it  in  the 
the  General  Chapter  of  the  Order. 

The  style  of  the  church  is  Transitional  from  Early 
English  to  Decorated;  it  was  begun  in  the  first  founda- 
tion of  the  abbey  by  Walter  de  Clare,  and  was  only 
finished  in  1287,  156  years  later.  It  was  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  Roger  Bigod,  Earl 
of  Norfolk.  Though  roofless,  this  beautiful  specimen 
of  architecture  remains  almost  perfect.  One  or  two 
pillars  have  fallen,  and  the  northern  arcade  of  a  nave 
of  six  bays  is  broken,  but  the  walls  are  perfect,  and 
the  stone  appears  little  injured  by  exposure  to  the 
weather.  The  church  measures  245  feet  in  length;  the 
transepts  1 10  feet;  and  the  four  pointed  gables  form  a 
feature  in  the  church.  The  east  end  has  a  great  two- 
light  window  64  feet  high.  "  This  window,  with  its 
one  tall  mullion  ramifying  at  the  top  and  leaving  the 
large  open  spaces  beneath  to  admit  the  distant  land- 

191 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

scape,  Is  one  chief  feature  of  Tintern"  (Gilpin).  The 
west  window  opposite  has  seven  Hghts,  and  it  needs 
little  imagination  to  picture  what  a  glorious  sight  it 
must  have  been  when  filled  with  painted  glass. 

The  central  arch  at  the  crossing  was  70  feet 
high,  and  the  choir  extended  one  bay  into  the  nave. 
The  cloisters  were  1 1 1  feet  on  two  sides,  and  99  feet 
on  the  other  two,  and  the  offices  were  arranged  in  the 
usual  manner  of  Cistercian  houses;  owing  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  ground,  the  domestic  buildings  were  on  the 
north  side  of  the  church.  Of  these  very  little  indeed 
remains  of  interest;  they  have  been  gradually  utilized 
in  the  building  of  cottages,  roads  and  pigstyes  in  the 
neighbourhood. 

From  the  accounts  of  the  abbey  given  by  the  abbot, 
Richard  Wych,  for  the  Valor  Ecclesiasticus  in  1535, 
it  appears  that  the  abbey  had  a  gross  income  of 
jr356  IIS.  6d.  This  was  greatly  reduced  by  necessary 
payments,  fees  and  pensions,  etc.  According  to  the 
charter  of  foundation  the  porter,  laundress,  church-clerk 
and  ferrymen  had  large  carrodies  or  annual  payments, 
which,  however,  were  disallowed  by  Henry  VIII ; 
gifts  to  the  poor  were  made  on  Maundy  Thursday, 
on  Christmas  Day  and  the  Feast  of  the  Purification, 
Palm  Sunday,  the  Assumption  and  All  Saints'  Day  for 
the  soul  of  Roger  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk  and  his 
ancestors,  and  again  on  the  Feast  of  St  Nicholas  for 
his  anniversary.  In  some  accounts  we  find  that  a  sum  of 
£2  each  was  allowed  yearly  for  the   clothing  of   the 

192 


Tintern 
monks;  that  there  were  six  servants  of  the  abbot;  three 
men  fishing  in  the  Severn  for  the  monastery;  four 
kitchen  servants,  a  tailor,  a  barber,  a  stableman  and  a 
cutter  of  wood.  Besides  these  curious  particulars  the 
accounts  reveal  the  fact  that  the  royal  officials,  whose 
purpose  it  was  to  get  as  much  for  the  tenth  as  possible, 
refused  to  allow  the  deductions  claimed  by  the  abbot. 
From  the  total  receipt  of  ^256  lis.  6Jd.  Abbot  Wych 
claimed  a  deduction  making  the  taxable  amount  to  be 
only  ;C^92  IS.  4d.  The  King  claimed  that  the  whole 
had  been  understated,  and  Tintern  was  charged  on  a 
revenuetof  ^^258  5s.  lod. 

Wha  ever  may  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  Crown 
officials  in  view  of  taxation,  after  the  passing  of  the  A61 
of  Parliament  in  1536  dissolving  the  smaller  monas- 
teries which  had  an  income  of  less  than  ^200  a  year, 
Tintern  was  apparently  adjudged  to  fall  within  that 
limit.  For  some  reason,  which  does  not  appear,  the  abbot 
was  sent  for  by  Crumwell  up  to  London,  as  we  know 
from  his  reply,  saying,  "I  have  received  your  letters 
this  Saturday  morning  by  the  servant  of  John  Winter, 
of  Bristol,  dire6ting  me  to  come  at  once  to  you.  .  .  . 
Had  I  had  them  on  Friday  I  should  have  started  at 
once,  but  now  will  wait  till  Monday,  over  the  High 
Feast  of  Our  Blessed  Lady,"  probably  March  25,  1537. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  business,  it  was  probably 
connefted  with  the  then  important  matter  of  the  forced 
suppression  of  the  house.  It  was  taken  possession  of 
by  Henry,  Earl  of  Worcester,  in  the  name  of  the  King, 

193  13 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
on   September    i,    1537,  and   shortly   afterwards  that 
nobleman  had  a  grant  from  the  Crown  of  the  property. 

Few  details  about  the  a6tual  suppression  and  work 
of  "defacing"  the  "superfluous  buildings,"  as  the 
wanton  destru6tion  was  called,  have  come  down  to  us. 
As  the  history  of  these  dissolutions  was  much  the 
same  in  every  case  it  may  be  of  interest  to  give  the 
account  of  what  took  place  in  regard  to  another  Cis- 
tercian house  in  the  words  of  one  who  was  a  boy  at 
the  time  and  who  heard  it  from  one  aftually  present. 
"In  the  plucking  down  of  these  houses,"  he  writes, 
"for  the  most  part  this  order  was  taken:  that  the  visi- 
tors should  come  suddenly  upon  every  house  unawares. 
....  For  as  soon  as  the  visitors  were  entered  within 
the  gates,  they  called  the  abbot  and  other  officers  of  the 
house  and  caused  them  to  deliver  all  the  keys  and  took 
an  inventory  of  all  their  goods,  both  within  doors  and 
without.  For  of  all  such  beasts,  horses,  sheep,  and  such 
cattle  as  were  abroad  in  pasture  or  grange-places,  the 
visitors  caused  to  be  brought  into  their  presence.  And 
when  they  had  done  so  [they]  turned  the  abbot  and 
all  his  convent  and  household  forth  of  doors. 

"This  thing  was  not  a  little  grief  to  the  convent 
and  all  the  servants  of  the  house,  departing  one  from 
another  and  especially  such  as  with  their  conscience 
could  not  break  their  profession.  It  would  have  made  a 
heart  of  flint  melt  and  weep  to  have  seen  the  breaking  up 
of  the  house,  the  sorrowful  departing  [of  the  brethren], 
and  the  sudden  spoil  that  fell  the  same  day  as  their 

194 


Tintern 

departing  from  their  home.  And  everyone  had  every- 
thing good,  cheap,  except  the  poor  monks,  friars 
and  nuns,  who  had  no  money  to  bestow^  on  anything. 
This  appeared  at  the  suppression  of  an  abbey,  hard  by 
me,  called  Roche  Abbey.  ...  At  the  breaking  up  of 
this  an  uncle  of  mine  was  present,  being  well  acquainted 
with  several  of  the  monks  there.  And  when  they  were 
put  out  of  the  house,  one  of  the  monks,  his  friend, 
told  him  that  everyone  of  the  convent  had  given  to 
him  his  cell  in  which  he  lived,  wherein  was  not  any- 
thing of  price,  but  his  bed  and  apparel,  which  was  but 
simple  and  of  small  price.  This  monk  wished  my  uncle 
to  buy  something  of  him,  who  said:  'I  see  nothing 
that  is  worth  money  for  my  use.'  'No,'  said  he,  'Give 
me  two  shillings  for  my  cell  door,  which  was  never 
made  with  five  shillings.'  .  .  .  Such  persons  as  after- 
wards brought  them  corn  or  hay  or  suchlike,  finding 
all  the  doors  either  open  or  the  locks  and  'shackles' 
plucked  down  or  the  door  itself  taken  away,  went  in 
and  took  what  they  found  and  filched  it  away. 

"Some  took  the  service  books  that  lay  in  the  church 
and  put  them  upon  their  wain  'coppes'  to  piece  them; 
some  took  windows  of  the  hayloft  and  hid  them  in 
their  hay,  and  likewise  they  did  of  many  other  things. 
Some  pulled  forth  the  iron  hooks  out  of  the  walls  that 
had  brought  none,  when  the  yeomen  or  gentlemen  of 
the  county  had  brought  the  timber  of  the  church. 

"The  church  was  the  first  thing  that  was  put  to  spoil 
and  then   the  abbot's  lodging,   the  dorter   and  frater 

195  i3« 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
with  the  cloister  and  all  the  buildings  thereabout 
within  the  abbey  walls.  Nothing  was  spared  but  the 
ox-houses  and  swine-cots  and  such  other  houses  of 
office  that  stood  without  the  walls,  which  had  more 
favour  shown  them  than  the  very  church  itself,  which 
was  done  by  the  advice  of  Crumwell,  as  Fox  reporteth 
it  in  his  book  of  Acts. 

"  It  would  have  pitied  any  heart  to  see  what  tear- 
ing up  of  the  lead  there  was,  what  plucking  up  of 
boards  and  throwing  down  of  sherds.  And  when  the 
lead  was  torn  off  and  cast  down  into  the  church  and 
the  tombs  in  the  church  all  broken  (for  in  most  abbeys 
were  divers  noble  men  and  women — yea,  in  some 
abbeys  Kings  whose  tombs  were  regarded  no  more 
than  the  tombs  of  inferior  persons)  for  to  what  end 
should  they  stand  when  the  church  over  them  was  not 
spared  for  their  sakes  ?  All  things  of  price  either 
spoiled,  carried  away,  or  defaced  to  the  uttermost. 

"The  persons  who  cast  the  lead  into  fodders  plucked 
up  all  the  seats  in  the  choir,  wherein  the  monks  sat 
when  they  said  service,  which  were  like  to  the  seats 
in  minsters  and  burned  them  and  melted  the  lead 
therewith,  although  there  was  wood  plenty  within  a 
flight  shot  of  them.  ...  In  the  rocks  were  found  pewter 
vessels  that  were  conveyed  away  and  there  hidden,  so  that 
it  seemeth  that  every  person  bent  himself  to  filch  and 
spoil  what  he  could.  Yea,  even  such  persons  were  con- 
tent to  spoil  them,  that  seemed  not  two  days  before 
to  allow  their  religion  and  do  great  worship  and  reve- 

196 


TINTKRN    ABBEY  :     INTERIOR 


Tmtern 
rence  at  their  Matins,  Masses  and  other  services  and  all 
other  of  their  doings.  This  is  a  strange  thing  to  con- 
sider that  they  who  could  this  day  think  it  to  be  the 
house  of  God,  the  next  [did  hold  it  as]  the  house  of 
the  devil;  or  else  they  would  not  have  been  so  ready 
to  have  spoiled  it." 

There  is  very  little  doubt  that  in  its  main  features 
the  account  ofthespoliationof  Roche  Abbey  is  the  same 
as  that  of  Tintern.  The  fact  that  the  latter  was  situated 
in  an  isolated  place  may  possibly  have  saved  it  from 
wanton  destruction  and  may  account  for  the  state  of 
comparative  preservation  in  which  we  find  the  church 
to-day .  The  accounts  of  the  Augmentation  Office,which 
was  established  to  deal  with  the  confiscated  property 
and  the  expected  spoils  which  would  fall  to  the  Crown, 
gives  the  very  inadequate  sum  of  ^132  8s.  ^d.  as  the 
total  received  from  the  plunder  of  Tintern, 


197 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

Torre  Abbey 

THE  situation  of  Torre  Abbey  in  the  olden 
days  must  have  been  ideal.  Placed  on  the  sea 
coast  of  Devon,  it  looked  southv^ard  across 
Torre  Bay  tow^ards  Brixham,  and  it  is  said  to  have 
been  the  best  provided  of  all  the  five-and-thirty  houses 
of  the  English  Premonstratensian  canons.  It  v^as 
founded  in  1196  by  William  Brinier,  was  endowed 
with  much  property  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  was 
given  the  patronage  of  several  churches  and  chapels. 
The  abbey  of  Welbeck  became  the  mother  house  of 
Torre,  sending  one  of  their  number,  Adam,  with  six 
companions  to  start  it;  but  after  three  years  and  a  half 
Adam  was  translated  to  Newhouse  as  abbot.  The  list 
of  the  superiors  at  Torre  is  far  from  complete,  and 
little  is  known  of  the  history  of  this  important  abbey 
beyond  what  may  be  gathered  from  the  lately  published 
records  of  the  Order  in  England. 

One  curious  story  connected  with  the  house  in  the 
fourteenth  century  has  been  preserved  in  the  Register 
of  Bishop  Brantyngham  of  Exeter.  In  i  390  the  bishop 
solemnly  excommunicated  the  unknown  person  or 
persons  who  had  spread  abroad  a  story  that  the  abbot 
of  Torre,  William  Norton,  had  murdered  and  beheaded 

198 


Tor7'e  Abbey 
one  of  his  canons,  Simon  Hastings.  This  accusation  the 
bishop  pronounced  to  be  an  infamous  and  malicious 
falsehood,  all  the  more  clearly  so  as  the  canon  in  ques- 
tion was  actually  alive  and  had  been  seen  by  many  both 
at  his  abbey  and  elsewhere. 

In  the  year  1456  the  abbot  of  St  Radegund's  was 
the  representative  in  England  of  the  abbot  of  Premon- 
tre.  As  such  he  possessed  all  powers  of  visitation  over 
the  houses  of  the  Order,  and  was  answerable  to  the 
Chapter  of  Premonstratensians  for  the  good  discipline 
of  the  English  branch.  Acting  in  that  capacity,  on 
September  10,  1456,  he  wrote  to  the  abbot  of  Torre, 
Richard  Cade,  then  recently  appointed,  about  certain 
rumours  he  had  heard  concerning  the  prior,  William 
Answell.  His  influence  in  the  house  was  a  bad  one, 
according  to  reports,  as  he  was  a  sower  of  discord  and 
contention,  and  the  visitor  directs  that  the  prior  be 
forthwith  sent  to  him  at  St  Radegund's  that  the  matter 
be  inquired  into.  In  the  same  letter  the  writer  says 
that  he  understands  that  the  monastic  property  has 
been  squandered,  that  the  abbot  does  not  take  advice, 
has  taken  too  great  burdens  on  the  house  and  has  not 
tried  to  put  a  stop  to  the  hurtful  dissensions  which 
take  place  in  his  monastery.  He  further  suggests  to 
him  the  propriety  of  resigning  his  office  as  abbot. 

In  1478  we  have  the  first  of  the  regular  series  of 
visitations  which  afford  an  insight  into  the  inner  his- 
tory of  Torre  for  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. In  that  year  Bishop  Redman,  who  was  also  abbot 

199 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
of  Shappand  visitor  of  the  Order  in  England,  appointed 
by  the  abbot  general  of  Premontre,  came  to  Torre,  on 
August  I,  on  his  first  visitation.  One  canon  confessed 
before  him  the  crime  of  "  apostacy,"  theft  and  rebeUion, 
which  having  been  put  into  plain  language  meant 
leaving  his  enclosure  w^ithout  permission,  disobeying 
his  superior  and  spending  money  v^ithout  leave.  He 
was  sent  to  do  penance  at  the  monastery  of  Newhouse 
for  forty  days  on  bread  and  water,  followed  by  three 
years'  imprisonment,  and  a  further  detention  there  for 
another  term  of  ten  years.  Another  canon  accused  of 
apostasy  in  the  same  sense  was  ordered  to  Welbeck  to 
undergo  similar  punishment.  Bishop  Redman  enjoined 
the  abbot  to  try  and  increase  the  number  of  the  reli- 
gious at  Torre  by  every  means  in  his  power,  and  he 
gave  certain  regulations  for  the  community  life.  The 
brethren  were  not  to  drink  after  Compline  without 
urgent  need,  and  never  without  full  permission.  The 
time  of  Vespers  was  to  be  at  4  o'clock,  both  summer 
and  winter,  and  all  were  to  be  in  bed  by  8  p.m.  He 
praises  the  general  administration  of  the  abbot,  how- 
ever, and  does  not  find  anything  of  grave  importance 
to  correct  or  to  refer  to  the  General  Chapter. 

In  his  next  visitation  on  September  21,  1482,  Bishop 
Redman  is  able  to  praise  the  administration  of  Abbot 
Cade  in  high  terms.  "In  obtaining  what  is  for  the 
good  of  the  monastery,"  he  says,  "  the  abbot  is  provi- 
dent and  circumspect  beyond  any  other  abbot  of  the 
Order."  At  this  time  one  of  the  canons  was  accused 


200 


To7're  Abhey 
of  breaking  open  the  abbot's  treasury,  but  on  inquiry 
he  was  able  to  clear  himself.  The  visitor  finds  that 
silence  might  be  kept  better,  and  that  the  tonsure  was 
getting  too  big,  but  there  are  no  grave  matters  to  be  cor- 
rected or  reported  to  the  Chapter.  Incidentally,  we  see 
from  the  document  that  the  abbot  was  getting  somewhat 
old  and  infirm — he  was  dead  before  the  next  visit — 
and  the  bishop  charges  the  community  to  try  and 
assist  him  when  his  troubles  and  sickness  should  in- 
crease upon  him  and  he  should  become  less  able  to  see 
to  all  things  himself. 

It  is  six  years  before  there  is  any  record  of  another 
visit  to  the  abbey.  This  time,  for  some  reason — "out 
of  sollicitude  for  the  monastery"  the  document  says — 
the  bishop  did  not  actually  come  to  Torre  itself.  He 
remained  at  their  house  of  Durford  in  Sussex,  and 
thither  the  abbot  and  a  proctor  for  the  community 
went  to  meet  him.  In  this  visit  he  gives  the  best 
report  to  his  investigations.  Everything  is  in  an  excel- 
lent state  through  the  administration  of  the  abbot,  now 
Thomas  Dare  or  Dyer,  and  the  community  have  a 
filial  affection  for  him  and  obey  him  in  all  confidence. 

At  the  time  of  the  abbot's  appointment  the  house 
was  in  debt  by  fifty  marks,  now  that  sum  has  been 
paid  and  a  hundred  marks  are  due  to  them.  In  the 
same  way  the  stock  and  grain  has  increased  by  "his 
circumspect  provision." 

Three  years  later,  on  May  24,  1 49 1 ,  Bishop  Redman 
comes  again  to  Torre  to  discharge  his  duty  as  visitor. 


201 


The  Greater  Ahheys 
This  time  a  grave  charge  of  incontinence  is  brought 
against  one  of  the  community,  but  after  full  and  pa- 
tient inquiry  the  visitor  finds  him  innocent,  but  impru- 
dent. He  urges  on  all  the  need  of  being  on  their  guard 
to  avoid  giving  any  occasion  for  suspicion  by  their 
conduct.  He  reminds  them  of  the  rule  of  the  Order 
that  no  one  is  to  eat  or  drink  in  any  house  within  a 
league  of  their  monastery,  and  he  forbids  all  games 
played  for  money,  especially  the  game  of  tennis.  The 
canons  evidently  took  the  admonition  of  the  visitor  to 
heart  and  as  a  community  pulled  themselves  together, 
for  three  years  later,  on  June  12,  1494,  the  bishop  v^as 
able  to  declare,  after  examination,  that  he  had  found 
all  things  in  good  order  and  all  laws  faithfully  ob- 
served by  both  superior  and  subjects.  The  community 
also  at  this  time  were  in  a  flourishing  state;  there  were 
no  less  than  six  novices  on  the  list,  all  of  whom  perse- 
vered and  appear  in  the  list  three  years  later  as  canons 
professed. 

Bishop  Redman  made  two  other  visitations  of  Torre, 
in  1497  and  in  1500.  He  had  now  become  bishop  of 
Exeter,  in  which  diocese  Torre  Abbey  was  situated. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  safeguard  for  the  abbey  its  pri- 
vilege of  exemption  from  episcopal  visitation,  on  each 
of  these  occasions  he  protests  that  he  has  come  to  visit 
the  place  not  as  bishop  of  Exeter,  but  as  the  commissary 
of  the  abbot  of  Premontre,  which  office  he  still  con- 
tinues to  hold.  In  1497  ^^  finds  everything  in  a  most 
satisfactory  state.  The  place,  he  says,  is  governed  in  all 


?.02 


Torre  Abbey 
things  to  the  honour  of  God  and  to  the  good  of  the  mo- 
nastery. "So  much  is  thisso,  that  nothing  whatever  there 
offended  my  sight,  but  everything  appeared  proper  to 
a  holy  hfe."  In  the  visitation  of  1500  the  Bishop  re- 
news his  commendation  of  the  rule  of  the  abbot;  he 
finds  all  things  in  an  excellent  state,  but  corrects  two  of 
the  canons  for  carelessness  in  regard  to  silence.  The  com- 
munity is  seen  to  have  increased  its  numbers  in  this 
last  glimpse  we  get  of  it.  Twenty  years  before  it  was 
fourteen,  now  it  is  eighteen,  four  of  them  are  novices. 

The  last  abbot  was  Simon  Rede  ele6led  and  con- 
firmed by  the  King  in  August  1523.  He  and  his  fellow 
canons  surrendered  the  monastery  to  the  King,  Febru- 
ary 23,  1539,  before  the  commissioner  William  Petre. 
The  abbot  and  his  religious  each  received  a  pension.  One 
of  the  canons,  John  Estrige,  died  within  a  month  of  his 
being  expelled  from  his  old  home. 

The  church  was  200  feet  long,  but  very  little  of 
it  remains  by  which  to  judge  of  its  architecture.  There 
are  now  standing  of  the  church  only  portions  of  the 
central  tower,  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  a  south  chapel: 
and  of  the  domestic  buildings,  the  entrance  of  the 
Chapter  House,  the  refectory,  a  fourteenth-century 
building  52  feet  by  25  feet;  and  a  large  gateway  of  the 
same  date.  Of  the  outbuildings  a  fine  decorated  barn 
120  feet  long  still  stands.  Dr  Oliver  says  of  Torre 
that  "nothing  can  exceed  the  beautiful  situation  of 
this  great  abbey;  and  if  we  may  judge  by  the  remains  of 
the  church,  of  the  Chapter  House  and  other  buildings, 

203 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

the  magnificence  of  the  fabric  did  honour  to  the  situa- 
tion." When  Leland  visited  the  abbey,  three  fair  gate- 
ways were  standing.  One  gateway  remains. 

The  sale  of  the  buildings  and  effects  of  the  abbey 
began  immediately  here  as  elsewhere.  In  the  accounts 
of  the  year  ending  Michaelmas  1 340,  Sir  John  Arundel 
credits  the  Augmentation  Ofhce  with  the  amount  of 
^43  I  OS.  for  the  sale  of  bells  and  superfluous  buildings 
at  Torre.  During  the  same  time  the  same  agent  had 
expended  ^(,79  1 3s.  7d.  in  Devon  and  Cornwall  in  "de- 
facing, breaking  up  and  pulling  down  divers  churches, 
bell  towers,  cloisters  and  other  buildings  of  late  mo- 
nasteries." Sir  John  Arundel  likewise  acknowledges 
having  received  from  various  rents  of  Torre  lands 
jTiSo  7s.  iid. 

Two  grants  of  the  property  are  registered  the  year 
after  the  Dissolution.  One  on  March  4,  1540,  to  Sir 
John  Ridgeway,  and  the  second  on  March  10  to  Sir 
Roger  Buett.  The  receipts  from  the  rents  paid  in  1 540 
to  Sir  Thomas  Arundel  were  jC294  8s.  2jd. 


204 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

Thorney 

IN  what  is  known  as  "the  Isle  of  Cambridge"  in 
the  fen  country,  and  about  equally  distant  from 
Peterborough  and  Crowland,  stood  the  Benedidine 
house  of  Thorney.  It  is  said  that  Saxulph,  the  first 
abbot  of  Peterborough,  built  a  hermitage  on  this  spot 
about  the  year  662.  It  was  then  and  for  200  years 
afterwards  called  Ancarig,  and  it  is  suggested,  though 
the  suggestion  comes  indeed  from  Ingulph's  suspected 
chronicle,  that  the  name  was  derived  from  the  exis- 
tence of  several  anchorites,  who  apparently  lived  there 
under  the  rule  of  a  prior.  Whatever  may  have  been 
its  early  history  Ancarig,  like  other  monasteries,  was 
destroyed  by  the  Danes,  and  it  was  not  until  972  that, 
being  re-established  by  St  Ethelwold  of  Winchester 
with  the  help  and  authority  of  King  Edgar,  Benedic- 
tine monks  were  placed  there  as  at  Peterborough  and 
Crowland.  The  place  then  became  known  as  Thorney 
— or  the  island  of  thorns — from  the  trees  that  grew 
luxuriantly  upon  it,  an  island  by  reason  of  the 
waters  that  surrounded  it.  It  was  considered  a  specially 
sacred  island,  and  except  to  offer  their  devotions  in  the 
church,  no  women  were  allowed  to  set  foot  on  the 
island,  and  the  nearest  place  where  they  were  permitted 

to  stay  was  nine  miles  away. 

205 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

St  Ethelwold  brought  to  Thorney,  possibly  on  ac- 
count of  its  secluded  position,  the  body  of  St  Botulph 
and  many  other  relics  of  English  Saints,  which  had 
been  saved  from  destru6lion  during  the  Danish  wars. 
Amongst  others  he  is  said  to  have  obtained  the  body 
of  St  Benet  Bishop  from  the  destroyed  monastery  of 
Weremouth.  Edgar  in  his  charter  of  foundations  declares 
the  monastery  dedicated  to  Our  Saviour  and  His  Blessed 
Mother.  He  had  chosen  the  spot,  he  says,  because  here 
two  brothers,  Tancred  and  Tortred,  had  lived  the  life 
of  anchorites,  the  one  being  martyred,  the  other  giving 
to  the  world  a  glorious  confession  of  the  Faith.  Their 
sister  Tova  also  had  followed  them  in  her  manner  of 
life  and  in  the  holiness  of  her  death.  Then  devastation 
and  entire  destruction  had  almost  obhterated  the  memory 
of  what  had  been,  until  a  pious  woman,  Ethelfled, 
bought  the  site  and  built  upon  it  a  monastery  and 
church.  This  was  now  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity: 
the  eastern  part  of  the  presbytery  was  consecrated  to 
"the  honour  of  the  Mother  of  God,  Mary  ever  a 
virgin";  the  western  end  "to  St  Peter,  the  guardian 
of  the  keys  of  heaven,"  and  the  north  portico  to  St 
Benedict,  patron  of  all  monks. 

The  church  set  up  by  St  Ethelwold,  who  apparently 
presided  over  Thorney  whilst  he  lived,  lasted  for  more 
than  a  century.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  abba- 
tial  office  was  held  by  Siward,  a  Dane,  but  about  two 
years  later,  in  1068,  the  Conqueror  appointed  Fulcard, 
a  Fleming.  For  some  reason  or  other  Fulcard  was  de- 

206 


\*F-^  V|»^- 


Thorney 
posed  in  a  council  held  at  Gloucester  by  Archbishop 
Lanfranc  in  1085.  To  the  abbatial  office  thus  vacant 
a  monk  of  Battle  Abbey  named  Gunther,  was  chosen. 
He  set  himself  at  once  to  the  task  of  rebuilding  much 
of  the  monastery:  in  the  year  of  his  election  he  took 
down  the  church,  and  much  of  the  new  stru6ture  was 
apparently  finished  in  1098.  The  whole  was  completed 
in  1 108,  four  years  before  his  death,  although  it  was 
another  twenty  years  before  the  dedication  of  the  church 
was  renewed. 

The  series  of  charters  and  other  documents  relating 
to  Thorney  show  what  numerous  benefactors  the  monks 
had  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  In  the  Dooms- 
day survey  the  value  of  the  abbey  is  placed  at  about  the 
same  as  that  of  Peterborough;  and  William  of  Mal- 
mesbury  describes  the  place  in  the  reign  of  Henry  H, 
as  wonderful  and  prosperous.  "The  monastery  of 
Thorney,"  he  writes,  "is  in  the  parish  [i.e.,  diocese] 
of  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  It  is  'an  image  of  Paradise': 
the  eyes  feast  on  the  greenness  of  the  trees,  and  herbs, 
and  grass  and  everywhere  presents  the  same  delightful 
prospedl.  Not  the  smallest  part  of  the  soil  remains  un- 
cultivated; here  the  land  produces  apple-trees,  here  the 
fields  are  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  vines,  which 
either  creep  on  the  earth  or  rise  towards  heaven  sup- 
ported by  poles.  Nature  and  cultivation  contend  together, 
and  where  the  one  fails  the  other  succeeds.  .  .  .  What 
shall  be  said  of  the  beauty  of  the  buildings  which  in 
a  wonderful  way  amid  these  marshes  have  found  firm 

207 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
foundations !  Absolute  solitude  secures  quiet  to  the  monks 
so  that  they  may  more  closely  cling  to  heavenly  concerns." 

The  church,  rebuilt  in  the  sixteen  years  from  1098, 
was  290  feet  long.  The  nave  of  five  bays  erected  by 
Abbot  Gunther  still  exists ;  it  has  a  Perpendicular 
clerestory  and  a  small  triforium.  The  finest  feature  of 
the  building  at  present  is  the  west  front ;  it  has 
square  turrets,  with  later  octagonal  terminations  100 
feet  high.  High  up  over  the  west  window  there  is  a 
screen  with  elaborate  panels,  and  niches  with  nine 
images.  The  five  nave  arches  rest  on  pillars  built  be- 
tween 1088  and  1 125,  and  as  the  aisles  and  clerestory 
were  destroyed  at  the  suppression,  the  space  between 
the  piers  is  filled  in  with  later  work,  and  a  row  of 
clerestory  windows  substituted  where  the  small  triforium 
used  to  be.  Willis  states  that  about  the  year  1636  the 
side  aisles  were  taken  down  and  part  of  the  material 
employed  in  filling  in  the  arches  of  the  nave. 

In  the  time  of  abbot  William  Ryall,  who  entered 
office  in  1457,  Reginald  Pecock,  bishop  of  Chichester, 
on  being  deprived  of  his  See,  was  taken  to  Thorney  to 
be  kept  in  confinement.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
sent  to  the  abbot  the  following  instructions  how  he 
should  be  treated : "  i  .That  he  have  a  secret  closed  cham- 
ber with  a  chimney  and  a  house  of  easement,  and  that 
he  pass  or  go  not  out  of  the  said  chamber.  2.  That  he 
have  but  one  person,  that  is  serious  and  well  disposed, 
to  make  his  bed  and  fire  as  he  shall  have  occasion,  and 
that  no  one  else  speak  to  him  without  leave,  and  in  the 

208 


Thorney 
presence  of  the  abbot,  unless  the  King  or  Archbishop 
send  to  the  abbey  any  man  with  writing  specially  in 
that  behalf.  3.  That  he  shall  have  no  books  to  look  on 
or  to  read  in,  but  only  a  Mass  book,  a  psalter,  a  legend 
and  a  Bible.  4.  That  he  have  neither  pen,  ink  nor 
paper.  5.  That  he  have  competent  fuel  or  firing  ac- 
cording to  his  age.  6.  That  the  first  quarter  after  his 
coming  into  the  abbey  he  be  contented  to  fare  no 
better  than  a  brother  or  monk  doth,  only  of  the  frey- 
tour,  or  to  have  the  same  commons  as  the  monks  have 
in  their  common  hall;  but  afterwards  that  he  be  served 
daily  of  meat  and  drink,  as  one  of  the  friars  or  monks 
when  he  is  excused  from  the  freytour,  and  somewhat 
better  afterwards,  as  his  disposition,  etc.,  shall  require. 
For  all  which,  and  for  fitting  up  this  close  apartment 
for  the  bishop,  the  abbot  is  ordered  to  have  eleven 
pounds."  For  his  maintenance  ^^40  a  year  was  assigned, 
but  he  is  supposed  to  have  lived  only  a  year  or  two  after 
his  reclusion  at  Thorney,  where  he  was  doubtless  buried. 
Robert  Blyth  became  abbot  in  1525.  At  that  time 
he  was  already  bishop  of  Down  and  Connor  in  Ireland 
and  held  the  abbey  in  commendam.  He  and  his  com- 
munity of  nineteen  monks  surrendered  the  monastery 
into  the  King'shandson  December  i,  i  539, and  most  of 
the  community  received  the  usual  pension  of  £^(i  1 3s.  4d. 
a  year.  The  abbot  for  his  share  obtained  £^2.Q)0  a  year 
and  probably  also  the  possession  of  the  abbot's  house  at 
Whittlesey.  In  his  will,  dated  October  1 9, 1 547,  he  calls 
himself  "Robert  Blythe,  bishop  of  Downe,"  and  appoints 

209  14 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

his  body  to  be  buried  in  the  church  of  Whittlesey,  in  the 
county  of  Cambridge,  before  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  the 
Altar,  and  gives  a  legacy  to  the  parsonage  of  Whittlesey, 
belonging  to  the  late  dissolved  monastery  of  Thorney. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  possessions  of  the  abbey 
of  Thorney,  together  with  the  site  of  the  monastery, 
w^ere  granted,  in  the  third  year  of  King  Edward  VI, 
to  John,  Earl  of  Bedford.  By  that  time,  although  we 
have  not  the  actual  details,  we  may  be  pretty  sure  that 
the  main  part  of  the  monastic  buildings,  including  the 
church,  had  been  wrecked,  as  being  "  superfluous 
buildings."  Very  possibly  the  bells  and  lead  of  Thorney 
were  included  in  the  lots  bought  by  John  Core,  a 
speculative  grocer  of  London.  The  bells  in  this  list  of 
purchases  numbered  fifty-six,  and  were  conveyed  to 
London,  where  they  were  found  to  weigh  4,8oolb.  and 
to  be  worth  ^432.  To  collect  these  the  expenses  are 
found  recorded  in  the  ministers' accounts.  We  there  learn 
the  cost  of  dismantling  the  bells  and  belfries,  the  ex- 
penses of  labourers  in  casting  down  and  breaking  up 
the  bells,  the  price  paid  for  "  hammers,  iron  wedges, 
Crowes  of  iron,  lescheselles,"  and  other  instruments 
bought  and  used  at  different  times  for  breaking  up  the 
bells.  Also  the  cost  of  barrels  bought  at  different  times, 
and  tuns  to  put  the  broken  metal  in  to  carry  it  to 
London.  In  one  account  labourers  were  occupied  and 
carts  used  for  seventy-five  days,  and  at  the  end  the 
receiver  stated  that  he  had  got  together  lead  and  bells 

amounting  to  >C5»898  17s.  3^d. 

210 


CHAPTER  XXV 

Whitby 

IT  Is  difficult  to  imagine  any  more  Impressive  sight 
than  Whitby  Abbey  must  have  presented  to  ships 
passing  along  the  Yorkshire  coast  before  the  six- 
teenth-century wreckers  had  dismantled  and  defaced 
it.  The  church  was  300  feet  by  69  feet,  with  transepts 
1 50  feet  across,  and  the  vaulting  was  60  feet  above  the 
floor.  The  central  tower  rose  far  into  the  air  to  serve 
as  a  landmark  by  day,  whilst  by  night  the  lights  of 
St  Hilda's  tower  shone  far  out  to  sea  "from  high 
Whitby's  cloister'd  pile"  to  cheer  and  guide  those  who 
sailed  in  ships,  over  that  long  stretch  of  water  without 
a  harbour.  "  It  is  impossible,"  says  a  modern  writer, 
"to  imagine  anything  more  grand  than  this  noble 
minster  when  complete,  rising  majestically  250  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  approached  across  the  deep  valleys 
and  mountain  wastes  of  the  Vale  of  Pickering.  ...  In 
the  midst  of  the  storm  or  sea-fog  the  chime  of  its  great 
bells  cheered  the  sailors  seeking  refuge  on  that  terrible 
coast,  and  in  the  darkness  of  night  the  pale  gleam  of 
its  lights  was  a  beacon  visible  leagues  away — to  that 
seaman's  eye  it  seemed  the  lustrous  form  of  St  Hilda 
herself  standing  in  one  of  the  northern  windows  and 
guiding  him  with  her  lamp." 

211  i4« 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

The  story  of  Whitby,  or  as  it  was  then  called  Streanes- 
halch — which  St  Bede  tells  us  meant  "Lighthouse 
bay" — goes  back  on  the  earliest  days  of  Saxon  Christia- 
nity. In  655  Oswy,  King  of  North umbria,  attacked 
by  Penda  of  Mercia  and  Cadwalla,  vowed  to  found 
twelve  monasteries  if  successful  in  the  fight  that  was 
beeing  forced  upon  him.  He  was  victorious,  and  keep- 
ing his  word  sent  his  daughter  to  be  brought  up  in 
the  monastery  of  Hartlepool,  over  which  Hilda,  the 
great-niece  of  Edwin,  presided.  Two  years  later,  in  657, 
Hilda  and  Oswy's  daughter  Helflad  went  from  Hartle- 
pool to  establish,  on  one  of  the  estates  promised  by  the 
King,  the  monastery  of  Streaneshalch.  Here  St  Hilda 
for  a  long  time  ruled  a  double  community  of  men  and 
women,  and  as  she  was  eminent  for  her  knowledge 
and  piety,  people  of  all  ranks  came  to  seek  her  coun- 
sel and  aid;  many  of  the  monks  of  this  monastery  be- 
came priests,  and  several  were  raised  to  the  episcopate. 

We  have  no  detailed  account  of  the  building  raised  by 
St  Hilda  at  the  first  foundation  of  the  house.  We  may 
however,  conjecture  that  it  was  large,  since  it  not  only 
contained  the  two  communities,  but  in  664  a  council 
to  determine  the  controversy  concerning  the  cele- 
bration of  Easter  and  the  shape  of  the  clerical  ton- 
sure was  held  in  the  monastery.  Of  the  church  the 
only  indication  that  we  have  is  in  the  old  life  of 
St  Gregory,  where  we  learn  that  besides  the  High 
Altar  there  were  in  the  first  church  two  other  altars 
dedicated  respectively  to  SS.  Peter  and  Gregory. 


212 


Whitby 
Hilda  took  a  considerable  part  in  determining  the 
issue  of  the  Synod  of  Whitby  over  which  Oswy 
presided  in  person.  With  St  Hilda's  name  was  linked 
many  a  legend  in  the  country  round.  Some  are  recorded 
in  Scott's  lines: 

They  told,  how  in  their  convent  cell 
A  Saxon  princess  once  did  dwell, 
The  lovely  Edelfled. 
And  how,  of  thousand  snakes,  each  one 
Was  changed  into  a  coil  of  stone 
When  holy  Hilda  prayed; 
Themselves,  within  their  holy  bound. 
Their  stony  folds  are  often  found. 
They  told,  how  sea-fowls'  pinions  fail 
As  over  Whitby's  towers  they  sail 
And,  sinking  down,  with  flutterings  faint, 
They  do  their  homage  to  the  saint. 

Hilda  died,  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle^  In 
6  8  o,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  her  age.  Among  her  monks 
at  Streaneshalch  was  the  first  native  poet  Ceadmon, 
who  had  been  a  herdsman.  St  Bede  tells  us  that  the 
highest  flights  of  poetry  were  so  natural  to  him  that  he 
dreamed  in  verse  and  even  composed  excellent  poems 
in  his  sleep,  which  he  was  afterwards  able  to  repeat 
in  his  waking  hours.  The  account  of  his  death  with 
its  simple  faith  in  the  future  life  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  pieces  in  St  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History. 

Hilda  was  succeeded  as  abbess  by  King  Oswy's 
daughter  Aefleda,  and  St  Bede  tells  us  that  the  latter 
died  in  714.  It  was  during  her  rule  that  the  remains 
of  her  father  were  removed  from  the  grave  on  the  field 
of  battle  where  he  had  fallen,  and  were  brought  to  a 

213 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

tomb  in  the  abbey  which  he  had  founded.  Here  they 
were  buried  "  with  the  rest  of  the  bodies  of  our  kings," 
as  the  unknown  monk,  the  author  of  the  Life  of  St 
Gregory,  says,  an  expression  which  gives  a  precise  indi- 
cation of  the  position  the  church  held  in  Northumbria 
in  the  early  days  of  Christianity. 

Streaneshalch  continued  to  prosper  after  the  death 
of  St  Hilda  and  her  successor,  Aelfleda,  till  about  the 
year  867.  From  the  year  866  the  Danish  invasions  assume 
a  new  and  more  terrible  character.  Previously  plunder 
had  been  the  object  of  the  frequent  raids  of  the  North- 
men ;  now  they  dreamt  of  conquest.  On  November  i, 
867,  "the  army,"  as  it  is  called,  stormed  and  took 
York  and  quickly  spread  over  Deira,  plundering  and 
destroying.  Every  monastery  and  church  in  the  pro- 
vince was  left  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins.  Amongst  others 
the  abbey  of  St  Hilda  perished  utterly.  The  Danes, 
under  Hunguar  and  Hubba,  landed  in  Dunsley  Bay, 
two  miles  to  the  west  of  the  monastery,  and  proceeded 
to  plunder  and  destroy  it.  The  community  were  dis- 
persed, and  probably  many  were  slaughtered  in  their 
cloister,  whilst  one  monk  is  said  to  have  anticipated  the 
evil  day  by  removing  the  relics  of  St  Hilda  to  Glaston- 
bury. For  more  than  two  centuries  the  site  of  Streanes- 
halch remained  waste  and  desolate,  but  the  memory  of  the 
old  religious  home  was  preserved  in  the  name  given  to  the 
few  huts  which  in  process  of  time  sprung  up  round  about. 
It  was  called  by  the  people  Presteby,  which  signified  the 
dwelling-place  of  the  priests  or  religious. 

214 


WJjitby 

When  next  the  abbey  rises  from  its  ruins  it  is  under 
the  name  of  Whitby.  WilHam  the  Conqueror  had  al- 
ready made  good  his  hold  over  the  country  when  in 
1074  three  monks  departed  from  Evesham  on  a  mis- 
sion to  restore  some  of  the  wasted  monasteries  of 
Northumbria.  The  story  may  be  seen  in  Simeon  of 
Durham's  History,  and  the  names  he  gives  are  those  of 
Aldwin  of  Winchelcombe,  Alfury  a  deacon,  and  Rein- 
frid,  who  from  the  profession  of  arms  had  betaken 
himself  to  the  religious  life  in  the  cloister  at  Evesham. 
These  monks  took  with  them  only  the  necessary  books 
and  vestments  for  Mass,  which  were  carried  on  the 
back  of  a  patient  ass.  The  first  of  the  little  band  of 
monks  remained  at  Newcastle,  the  second  established 
himself  at  Jarrow,  and  Reinfrid  refounded  Whitby  as 
a  monastery  of  Benedictines,  being  helped  by  the 
gifts  of  Hugh,  Earl  of  Chester,  and  of  William  de 
Percy. 

Reinfrid  appears  to  have  lived  till  1084,  and  was 
followed  in  his  office  of  prior  by  two  of  the  family  of 
Percy,  the  brother  and  the  son  of  one  of  the  founders. 
In  the  reign  of  Henry  I,  the  abbey  had  grown  in  num- 
bers and  importance,  and  the  King  added  considerably 
to  its  possessions,  and  granted  to  it  the  dues  of  a  port 
or  haven  at  Whitby.  At  this  time  the  number  of  the 
community  would  appear  to  have  been  thirty-six  or 
thirty-eiglit.  At  some  time  between  11 09-1 127  the 
monastery  was  created  an  abbey,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  same  century  it  was  plundered  and  at  least  par- 

215 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

tially  destroyed  by  some  pirates  from  Norway  who  had 
landed  on  the  coast. 

The  history  of  Whitby  during  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies was  even  and  uneventful,  with  apparently  little 
to  disturb  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  Benedictine 
mode  of  life.  It  was  during  this  time  that  there  was 
built  up  the  church,  portions  of  which  now  stand  on 
the  cliff,  desolate  and  uncared  for,  and  slowly  crumbling 
to  dust.  Every  vestige  of  the  conventual  buildings  has 
vanished,  the  materials  having  been  utilized  in  a  neigh- 
bouring building.  The  Early  English  presbytery  of  the 
great  church  remains,  and  shows  that  the  edifice  must 
have  been  one  of  the  many  architectural  glories  of 
medieval  England.  The  seven  bays  of  choir  and  sanc- 
tuary, the  exquisite  transepts  of  three  bays  with  rich 
buttresses,  the  two  tiers  of  graceful  lancet  windows  in 
the  front  and  portions  of  the  decorated  nave  still  stand 
and  makes  us  sigh  for  the  rest.  The  church  was  360 
feet  long,  the  tower  150  feet  high,  and  each  arm  west 
and  east  was  150  feet  long. 

In  1 527,  on  the  death  of  abbot  Thomas  York,  John 
Topcliffe  or  Henhem  was  chosen  to  succeed  to  the 
abbacy.  The  times  were  perilous  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  King's  policy,  with  regard  to  the  religious 
houses,  became  evident.  Abbot  John  from  the  first  was 
troubled  by  the  royal  visitors  and  the  impossible  in- 
jundions  they  left  behind  them.  He  wrote  his  doubts 
to  Crumwell  and  pointed  out  the  difficulty  of  govern- 
ing any  religious  house  under  the  circumstances;  but 

216 


TVhhby 
with  what  result  does  not  appear.  In  1537,  under  the 
pretext  that  the  risings  in  the  north  must  have  been 
much  countenanced  by  the  monks,  Henry  seized  the 
revenues  of  Whitby.  After  unavaiHng  protests  the  abbot 
is  said  to  have  "certified"  Crumwell  "that  he  would 
resign,"  but  he  vigorously  denied  any  desire  to  desert 
his  post.  Layton  and  Legh,  two  of  the  most  notorious 
of  the  royal  visitors,  went  to  Whitby  to  keep  him  to 
his  supposed  word  or  to  "find  any  cause  of  depriva- 
tion." They  wrote  thence  to  Crumwell  to  ask  whether 
the  all-powerful  minister  had  anyone  he  intended  to 
appoint,  or  if  not  whether  he  would  leave  it  to  them  "to 
find  a  man  habill  both  for  the  King's  honour  and  dis- 
charge of  his  conscience  and  for  your  worship  and  also 
profit." 

Crumwell,  however,  did  not  think  well  to  leave  the 
matter  to  Do(5tors  Layton  and  Legh.  In  Odober  1538, 
having  secured  the  resignation,  he  despatched  two  agents, 
upon  whom  he  could  rely,  with  instructions  to  get  the 
community  to  leave  the  choice  of  a  new  superior  to 
them,  when  they  should  be  instru6ted  whom  they  were 
to  nominate.  This  the  monks  refused,  upon  which  the 
agents  tried  to  get  them  to  allow  Crumwell  to  appoint, 
but  as  they  were  still  recalcitrant,  and  as  the  agents  had 
with  them  "the  conge  d'e slier  and  full  election  from  the 
King,"  they  thought  it  best  to  delay  the  eledion  till 
they  could  hear  further.  On  this  the  prior,  Robert 
Woodhouse,  and  others  went  up  to  interview  the  mini- 
ster on  the  subje<5t.  Immediately  they  had  gone  the 

217 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
agents  renewed  their  solicitations  of  the  community, 
and  on  October  30,  1538,  the  monks  gave  way  and 
signed  a  paper  in  the  presence  of  Tristram  Teste  and 
his  fellow  commissioners  allowing  Crumwell  to  appoint. 
The  efFe6l  may  be  judged  by  the  royal  appointment  of 
Henry  Davell  on  December  9,  1538,  by  whom  the 
monastery  was  surrendered  to  the  King  on  December 
14,  1540. 

Charlton  concludes  his  account  of  Whitby  thus: 
"after  being  plundered  of  the  wood,  the  timber  and  the 
lead  upon  its  roof,  and  also  of  its  bells  and  everything 
else  belonging  thereto  that  could  be  sold,  it  was  left 
standing  with  its  stone  walls,  a  mere  skeleton  of  what 
it  had  formerly  been,  to  crumble  away  by  degrees  into 
dust  or  to  form  a  heap  of  rubbish  which  might  merely 
show  passengers  in  future  ages  that  there  Whitby 
formerly  stood.  It  is  true  some  part  of  this  lead  was 
laid  upon  the  church  of  St  Mary,  which  was  still  per- 
mitted to  be  the  parish  church  of  Whitby,  and  which 
seems  till  then  to  have  had  only  a  thatched  roof;  but 
that  lead  was  only  a  small  part  of  the  whole,  and  all  the 
remainder  was  carried  away  and  converted  into  money." 


218 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

Woburn 

WOBURN  ABBEY,  a  monastery  of  the  Cis- 
tercian Order,  had  its  origin  in  the  piety  of 
Hugh  de  Bolbeck  in  1145.  Desiring  to  es- 
tabHsh  some  reUgious  house,  he  came  to  Fountains  and 
obtained  the  help  of  the  abbot  in  erecting  a  monastery 
at  a  place  called  Woburn,  in  Bedfordshire,  which,  like 
all  Cistercian  foundations,  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  As  the  first  community,  thirteen  of  the  monks 
of  Fountains  were  detached  from  their  own  house  and 
sent  to  colonise  Woburn,  under  Alan,  one  of  those  who 
had  gone  to  Fountains  from  St  Mary's,  York. 

The  new  foundation  was  at  first  very  poor ;  in  fact, 
although  from  the  extant  charters  it  is  apparent  that 
it  did  not  lack  benefactors,  the  endowment  was  so 
scanty  that  after  struggling  for  more  than  eighty  years, 
in  1234  it  was  broken  up  for  a  time  and  the  com- 
munity scattered  in  other  monasteries  of  the  Order,  till 
the  debts  that  had  been  contracted  at  Woburn  could 
be  paid.  How  long  this  dispersal  continued  does  not 
appear,  but  it  is  certain  that  before  the  close  of  the 
century  the  name  of  the  community  stands  in  the  taxa- 
tion of  Pope  Nicholas,  and  that  in  1297  Robert  de 
Stoke  was  elected  abbot.  It  never  became  a  very  rich 

219 


The  Greater  Abbey 
house,  however,  and  its  net  revenue  was  returned  in 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII  as  sHghtly  under  jC392- 

Of  its  history  little  is  known  but  the  closing  drama 
which  ended  with  the  execution  of  the  abbot  and  the 
confiscation  of  the  abbey  possessions.  The  first  incident 
affords  us  an  insight  into  the  anxieties  and  trials  experi- 
enced by  the  religious  superiors  during  the  few  years 
prior  to  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries.  As  the 
autumn  of  1536  drew  on  to  a  close,  reports  from  all 
sides  must  have  come  into  the  cloisters  of  the  scenes  of 
destruction  and  sacrilege  which  everywhere  were  being 
enacted  in  the  work  of  dissolving  the  smaller  religious 
houses,  of  the  pitiable  case  of  the  ejected  religious  and 
of  the  rumours,  that  found  ready  credence,  of  projected 
suppression  on  a  much  larger  scale.  It  requires  little 
stretch  of  the  imagination  to  picture  the  dismay  with 
which  the  religious  must  have  listened  to  the  current 
reports  of  violence  and  injustice.  But  a  glimpse  of  the 
truth  is  afforded  in  the  depositions  which  at  the  time 
were  made  against  the  abbot  of  Woburn. 

When  the  report  of  the  execution  of  the  Carthusians 
of  the  London  Charter  House  reached  the  monastery, 
the  abbot  assembled  his  brethren  in  their  Chapter 
House,  and  having  recited  the  psalm  T>eus  venerunt 
gentes^  he  spoke  as  follows:  "Brethren,  this  is  a  perilous 
time.  Such  a  scourge  was  never  heard  since  Christ's 
passion.  You  have  heard  how  good  men  do  suffer 
death.  My  brethren,  this  is  undoubtedly  for  our  offence, 
for  ye  have  heard  that  so  long  as  the  Children  of  Israel 


220 


r~.i^&jh^5^i- 


Wohurn 

kept  the  Commandments  of  God,  so  long  their  enemies 
had  no  power  over  them,  but  God  took  vengeance  of 
their  enemies.  But  when  they  broke  God's  Command- 
ments, then  they  were  subdued,  and  so  be  we.  There- 
fore let  us  be  sorry,  and  undoubtedly  He  will  take  ven- 
geance on  our  enemies,  these  heretics  who  cause  so 
many  good  men  to  suffer  thus.  Alas !  it  is  a  piteous  case 
that  so  much  Christian  blood  be  shed.  Therefore,  my 
good  brethren,  for  the  love  of  God,  let  everyone  of  you 
devoutly  pray  and  say  this  psalm  T)eus  venerunt,  etc., 
with  the  versicle  Exurgat  Deus,  etc.,  this  same  psalm 
to  be  said  every  Friday,  immediately  after  the  Litany, 
prostrate,  when  ye  lie  before  the  High  Altar  and  doubt 
not  God  will  allay  this  storm.'* 

But  the  help  Abbot  Hobbes's  simple  faith  in  Pro- 
vidence expected  did  not  come  to  him.  He  and  his 
monastery  were  destroyed  in  the  great  catastophe  which 
overwhelmed  so  many  in  those  days  of  Tudor  despo- 
tism. The  story  of  Woburn  is  pathetic,  and  perhaps 
more  so  than  that  of  any  other  English  house,  by 
reason  of  the  touching  details  that  have  been  preserved 
to  us.  In  it  the  veil,  which  perhaps  fortunately  shrouds 
the  heart-breaking  incidents  of  the  general  Dissolution, 
is  slightly  lifted,  and  we  are  afforded  a  glimpse  of  the 
fear  and  hope  and  despair  which  by  turns  filled  the 
hearts  of  the  religious  in  the  time  during  which  the 
sword  was  kept  hanging  over  their  heads.  Paralysed  by 
the  masterful  policy  of  Crumwell,  it  seems  as  if  their 
hearts  were  chilled   by  the  thought  of  the  uncertain 

221 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

fate  awaiting  them,  whilst  the  very  source  of  the  reli- 
gious life  was  being  poisoned  by  the  injunctions  and 
irritating  visitations,  the  object  of  which  was  to  make 
the  cloister  unbearable,  and  drive  the  monks  to  rebel 
or  surrender  their  monasteries. 

Richard  Hobbes  had  been  abbot  of  Woburn  for  some 
years  when  he  and  his  monks,  at  the  royal  command, 
took  the  Oath  of  the  Royal  supremacy.  It  was  clearly 
against  the  abbot's  better  judgement,  and  that  of  some 
at  least  of  the  community,  that  they  had  sworn  as 
commanded  and  had  not  resisted.  Dan  Ralph,  the  sub- 
prior,  subsequently  acknowledged  this  and  begged  the 
King's  pardon  for  it,  and  for  the  "erroneous  estimation 
of  Mr  More  and  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  whose  death 
he  a  great  while  thought  meritorious,  wishing  he  had 
died  with  them."  In  faft,  evidently  to  save  the  abbot 
if  possible,  Dan  Ralph  declared  that  it  was  he  who, 
"by  counsel  and  menace"  had  persuaded  him  to  take 
the  required  Oath.  Another  of  the  community,  Dan 
Lawrence,  the  sexton,  declared  that  when  he  was  sworn 
he  could  not  touch  the  Book  (of  the  Gospels)  on  account 
of  the  numbers,  and  so  considered  his  conscience  free, 
although  he  had  signed  "the  carte  of  profession." 

According  to  the  gossip,  even  at  the  beginning  of 
1536,  when  the  bill  for  suppressing  the  lesser  monasteries 
had  passed,  it  was  said  that  Woburn  "  and  other  more 
should  go  down  ere  Twelthtide."  But  in  reality  it  was 
not  until  1538  that  any  steps  were  taken  by  Crumwell  to 
bring  about  the  Dissolution.  The  final  catastrophe  was 


222 


Woburn 
hastened  by  certain  malicious  informations  of  discon- 
tented monks,  who  at  Woburn  as  in  many  monasteries 
in  England  at  this  time,  served  Crumwell  as  spies  and 
furnished  him  with  welcome  accusations  of  their  su- 
periors and  brethren. 

On  May  12,  1538,  Abbot  Hobbes  and  certain  of  his 
monks  found  themselves  in  the  Tower  of  London, 
where  they  were  subje6ted  to  a  severe  examination. 
One  of  the  charges  brought  up  against  him,  which  he 
did  not  deny,  was  the  sermon  he  had  made  to  his  com- 
munity on  the  death  of  the  Carthusians  in  London. 
Besides  this,  when  the  Aft  dissolving  the  monasteries 
was  passed  in  1536,  the  abbot  had  called  his  subjefts  to 
chapter,  and,  according  to  the  depositions  of  four  monks, 
had  addressed  them  "with  suchlike  exhortation  in  the 
said  Chapter  House,  with  lamentable  mournings  for 
the  dissolving  of  them,  enjoined  us  to  sing  Sahator 
mundi  saha  nos  omnes  every  day  after  Lauds.  And  we 
murmured  at  it  and  were  not  contented  to  sing  it  for 
such  a  cause,  and  so  we  did  omit  it  divers  times.  For 
this  cause  the  abbot  came  into  the  chapter  and  did  in 
manner  rebuke  us  and  said  we  were  bound  to  obey  his 
commands  by  our  profession.  And  so  he  did  command 
us  to  sing  it  again  with  versicles  Exurgat  Deus,  etc., 
and  enjoined  us  to  say  at  every  Mass  that  every  priest 
did  sing  a  collect,  Deus  qui  contritorum^  etc.  And  he  said, 
if  we  did  thus  with  good  and  pure  devotion,  God  would 
handle  the  matter  so  that  it  should  be  to  the  comfort 
of  all  England,  and  so  show  us  mercy  as  He  showed  to 

223 


The  G?'eater  Abbeys 
the  Children  of  Israel.  And  surely  brethren,  he  said, 
there  will  come  over  us  z  good  man  who  will  re-edify 
these  monasteries  again  that  are  now  suppressed  quia 
potens  est  Deus  de  lapidibus  istis  suscitare  Jilios  Abrahce."" 

But  during  the  time  of  waiting  for  the  doom  of  their 
house  there  was  inevitable  excitement,  contention  and 
recrimination  among  the  monks  of  Woburn,  with  cross 
accusations  of  one  party  against  the  other.  In  the  "  shav- 
ing house,"  one  told  another  that  he  belonged  to  the 
"new  world."  Bitter  words  passed,  and  one  of  those 
there  present  declared  that  "neither  thou  nor  yet  any 
of  us  shall  do  well  as  long  as  we  forsake  our  head  of 
the  church,  the  Pope";  to  which  his  opponent  replied 
calling  him  "a  false,  perjured  knave  to  his  prince." 
Another  monk  wrote  to  Crumwell  to  complain  of  his 
abbot  that,  having  spoken  against  the  quality  of  the 
bread  supplied  In  the  monastic  refe6lory,  he  was  told 
"to  go  further  and  fare  worse." 

These  and  other  tales  carried  to  the  too  willing  ear 
of  the  King's  minister  brought  the  abbot  under  sus- 
picion. He  was  arrested  with  others  of  his  monks  and 
lodged  in  the  Tower.  At  the  end  he  had  tried  to  anti- 
cipate the  event  by  a  joint  letter  from  himself  and  his 
monks  handing  over  themselves  and  their  monastery  to 
to  Henry's  mercy.  They  declared  their  full  recognition 
of  the  King  as  Supreme  Head  and  protested  their  in- 
nocence of  the  charges  brought  against  them.  Their 
submission,  however,  came  too  late;  the  reply  was  the 
seizure  of  the  abbot  and  others  of  the  monks. 

224 


IHh    ABBOT  .1    OAK,     WOBUKN 


JVoburn 

In  his  examination  Richard  Hobbes,  the  abbot  of 
Woburn,  practically  allowed  all  that  had  been  advanced 
against  him.  His  objection  to  the  "  Royal  Headship,"  he 
urges,  was  not  out  of  malice  "but  only  for  a  scrupu- 
lous conscience  he  then  had  touching  the  continuance 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome,"  and  he  confessed  that  when 
the  papal  Bulls  were  sent  up  to  Do6lor  Petre,  he  got 
Dan  Robert  Salford  "to  write  the  principal  Bulls  in  a 
fair  hand,"  and  the  junior  monks,  not  priests,  to  tran- 
scribe the  others  in  a  running  hand,  so  that  when  the 
quarrel  between  the  King  and  the  Pope  was  settled  he 
might  have  evidence  of  his  old  privileges  and  exemp- 
tions. "These  copies,"  he  said,  "remained  yet  in  my 
chamber  at  my  coming  away." 

He  confessed  also  having  likened  Henry  to  Nebu- 
chadonasor  taking  away  the  sacred  vessels  of  the 
temple:  to  having  spoken  against  the  "new learning" 
and  "in  all  audiences  from  time  to  time"  that  "I  have 
stood  stiffly  in  my  opinion  of  the  old  trade  unto  this 
present  day,  maintaining  the  part  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  so  far  as  I  durst,  thinking  that  it  was  the  true 
way,  and  the  contrary  of  the  King's  part  but  usurpa- 
tion desiderated  by  flattery  and  adulation."  He  fully 
admitted,  further,  that  he  had  wished,  and  had  said 
that  he  wished  that  he  had  died  with  the  Carthu- 
sians, More  and  Fisher.  He  also  confessed  that  he 
now  deplored  the  suppression  of  so  many  monasteries 
and  that  for  all  these  troubles  he  had  blamed  the  ad- 
vice of  Crumwell  and  the  unfortunate  divorce  question. 


TJoe  Greater  Abbeys 

This  ample  confession,  evidently  made  by  the  ad- 
vice of  Crumwell,  pitifully  reveals  the  mind,  heart  and 
soul  of  Abbot  Hobbes,  in  all  their  many  perplexities. 
He  had  before  him  all  the  horrors  of  prison  and  the 
thought  of  a  terrible  and  ignominious  death.  Under 
stress  of  this  haunting  fear,  before  his  examination  is 
over,  in  accents  more  pitiful  still,  he  admits  that  after 
all  he  may  have  been  mistaken  and  pleads  for  pardon. 

But  such  a  surrender  as  the  abbot  brought  himself 
to  make  in  the  last  resource  was  useless.  Henry  had 
passed  the  stage  when  any  sentiment  of  compassion 
for  human  weakness  or  pity  for  any  living  soul  could 
find  a  place  in  his  heart.  The  abbot  was  apparently 
tried  at  Lincoln,  and  in  those  days  of  constru6live 
verbal  treason  he  was  pre-condemned  by  his  own 
confession.  With  him,  in  the  same  charge,  were  ar- 
raigned two  of  his  monks,  Lawrence  Bloxam  and 
Richard  Barnes.  All  three  were  found  guilty  and  or- 
dered to  be  drawn,  hanged  and  quartered. 

The  sentence  was  carried  into  effect  at  Woburn 
itself.  Tradition  points  to  an  old  tree,  now  called 
"the  abbot's  oak,"  in  front  of  the  place  where  the 
abbey  buildings  stood,  as  the  gallows  from  which 
Abbot  Hobbes,  his  two  monks  and  the  vicar  of 
Puddington  paid  the  extreme  penalty  for  expressing 
their  opinions  on  these  matters  of  conscience  and  dis- 
approving of  the  King's  proceedings.  The  possessions 
of  the  abbey,  producing  a  clear  income  of  about  >C400 
a   year,  passed  into  the  royal  hands  by  virtue    of   the 

226 


Woburn 

new  interpretation  of  the  law  of  treason.  On  Septem- 
ber 29,  the  royal  receiver  of  attainted  lands  acknow- 
ledged the  receipt  of  ^^266  12s.  from  the  sales  of  the 
Woburn  monastic  goods.  A  few  years  later  the 
property  was  granted  to  Sir  John  Russell,  whose 
descendants  still  enjoy  it.  Not  a  vestige  of  the  church 
or  of  the  monastery  building  now  exists.  The  old 
pollard-like  oak,  however,  remains,  and  fastened  against 
it  were  some  verses  by  Wiffle,  the  historian  of  the 
house  of  Bedford,  in  which  he  rejoices  that  the  "old 
memorial  of  the  mitred  monk"  has  lived  to  flourish  in 
a  brighter  day. 


227  i5« 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

Waltham  Abbey 

IN  Essex,  on  level  land  near  to  the  river  Lea,  and 
with  the  rising  ground  of  Epping  Forest  behind 
it,  stands  what  is  left  of  the  abbey  of  Waltham 
Holy  Cross.  For  some  centuries  before  the  sup- 
pression it  was  a  house  of  Canons  Regular  of  St 
Augustine.  The  members  of  this  Order  followed  a  rule 
founded  on  the  instructions  of  St  Augustine  and  ap- 
proved at  Rome  in  Councils  held  by  Popes  Nicholas  II 
and  Alexander  II,  which  insisted  on  these  canons  em- 
bracing an  entire  community  of  life  as  practised  by  all 
other  regulars.  The  adoption  of  this  code  facilitated  the 
formation  of  bodies  of  regular  canons,  not  connected 
either  with  cathedrals  or  with  colleges  of  priests,  and 
during  the  twelfth  century  the  foundations  made 
throughout  Europe  by  the  Augustinian  Canons  Regu- 
lar were  very  numerous.  Here  in  England  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  they  possessed  more  than  170  houses, 
two  of  which,  namely  Waltham  Cross  and  Cirencester, 
were  mitred  abbeys.  These  canons  served  also  one 
English  cathedral,  Carlisle. 

The  first  foundation  at  Waltham,  and  indeed  the 
adoption  of  the  name  of  "  Holy  Cross  "  as  the  dedi- 
cation, was  brought  about,  according  to  legend,  in  a 

228 


Waltha?n  Abbey 
mysterious  manner.  In  the  reign  of  King  Canute  a 
pious  smith,  so  runs  the  story,  received  a  supernatural 
intimation  that  he  would  find  a  crucifix  buried  on  the 
hill  at  Montacute,  in  Somerset.  The  parish  priest  was 
consulted  and  thought  that  the  matter  should  be  ex- 
amined into  at  once.  At  the  head  of  a  procession,  pray- 
ing and  singing  the  Litanies,  this  priest  accompanied  the 
smith  to  the  spot  which  had  been  pointed  out  to  him 
in  his  dream  and  which,  when  on  the  ground,  he  fully 
recognized.  Here,  after  much  digging,  the  searchers 
came  upon  a  wonderful  crucifix  carved  in  black  marble. 
The  discovery  naturally  made  a  great  impression  at  the 
time,  and,  indeed,  the  fact  suggested  the  war-cry  of  the 
English  at  the  battle  of  Senlac:  "  Holy  Cross,  out,  out!" 
The  lord  of  the  manor  of  Montacute  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery  was  named  Tovi,  a  well-known  soldier  who 
was  standard-bearer  to  King  Canute.  By  his  direction 
the  crucifix  was  placed  on  an  ornamented  car,  to  which 
were  harnessed  twelve  red  oxen  and  twelve  white  cows, 
and  the  ultimate  destination  was  left  to  their  instindls, 
guided,  of  course,  by  Providence.  The  spot  at  which 
they  ultimately  stopped,  and  which  was  thus  pointed 
out  by  fate  as  the  place  where  the  cross  was  to  remain, 
was  Waltham,  a  small  and  common  hunting  box  in 
Hertfordshire.  Here  Tovi,  with  the  King's  help,  es- 
tablished two  priests  to  act  as  guardians  of  the  crucifix 
thus  so  strangely  found  at  Montacute  and  providen- 
tially brought  to  Waltham.  From  the  first  this  cross 
was  believed  to  possess  miraculous  powers,  and  amongst 

229 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

other  favours  thought  to  have  been  obtained  at  its 
shrine  was  the  cure  of  Harold,  son  of  Earl  Godwin, 
from  the  palsy.  In  recognition  and  gratitude  for  this, 
Godwin  began  the  building  of  a  large  church  and 
established  twelve  priests  in  charge,  in  place  of  the  two 
who  had  served  the  small  chapel  previously. 

The  church  thus  begun  with  what  the  chronicler 
calls  columnce  sublimes — marvellous  columns — and 
arches  connecting  them,  was  finished  in  1060  and  was 
consecrated  on  May  3  of  that  year.  It  was  278  feet  in 
length;  and  across  the  transept  it  was  94  feet.  The 
walls  were  all  in  stone,  and  there  is  said  to  have  been 
much  gilding  over  the  altar,  with  gilt  and  embossed 
metal  plates  round  the  capitals.  At  the  time  of  the 
dedication,  Edward  the  Confessor,  who  was  present, 
gave  his  royal  charter  confirming  Harold's  liberal 
donation  of  seventeen  manors  to  the  church  of  Wal- 
tham. 

On  his  way  to  the  decisive  battle  of  Hastings,  in 
which  he  lost  his  life,  Harold  came  to  Waltham  to 
pay  a  visit  to  the  shrine,  and  to  offer  up  his  devotions 
there  at  the  great  cross.  His  body,  after  having  been 
buried  first  on  the  field  of  battle  under  a  cairn  of 
stones,  was  brought  back  at  the  request  of  his  mother 
and  buried  in  the  church  he  had  lately  finished  at 
Waltham.  According  to  some  authorities,  the  Con- 
queror, although  he  permitted  this  burial,  seems  to 
have  treated  the  place  with  a  certain  hardness  and  un- 
fairness. Although  the  canons  appear  to  have  kept 

230 


i^  t^iiJ 


^■ 


#.. 


WALTIIAM    ABBEY 


Walthafit  Abbey 
their  lands  intact,  William  is  said  to  have  dispossessed 
them  of  most  of  the  movable  v^ealth  with  which 
Harold  had  enriched  them,  and  to  have  carried  plate, 
jewels  and  other  movable  property  off  to  Normandy. 
The  list  given  by  the  scribe  of  these  riches  is  not  un- 
interesting. There  were,  we  are  told,  seven  shrines  for 
relics,  three  gold  and  four  silver  gilt,  all  ornamented 
with  precious  stones,  four  Gospel  books  bound  in  gold 
and  silver  and  jewelled,  four  great  thuribles  of  gold  and 
silver,  six  candlesticks,  two  of  gold  and  the  rest  of 
silver,  three  great  gold  and  silver  jugs  of  Greek  work, 
four  crosses  wrought  in  gold  and  silver  with  jewels. 
There  were  also  "most  precious  chasubles,  worked 
with  gold  and  gems,"  etc. 

The  college  of  secular  canons  established  by  Harold 
at  Waltham  remained  in  existence  for  a  century  after 
the  Conquest.  As  regards  the  buildings,  in  1 125-6  the 
apsidal  choir  was  removed  in  order  to  make  way  for 
another.  Before  the  work  was  completed,  however,  the 
King  had  obtained  permission  from  the  Pope  to  sub- 
stitute Augustinian  canons  for  the  secular  priests  of 
Harold's  foundation.  This  was  done  in  1 1  ^'j^  and  on 
Whitsun  Eve  the  bishop  of  London  indu6ted  the 
Regular  canons  to  the  church.  The  rehgious  came 
from  Osney,  Cirencester  and  St  Osyth's,  and  the  first 
temporary  superior  was  appointed  in  the  person  of 
Ralph,  a  canon  of  Cirencester.  In  the  same  year,  how- 
ever, Walter  de  Gaunt  was  made  first  abbot  of  the 
house,  and   King   Henry  II,   besides  confirming  the 

231 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

charter  of  the  Confessor,  added  to  the  endowments  of 
the  Augustinian  abbey.  In  1182  a  great  meeting  of 
ecclesiastics  and  nobles  was  held  in  Waltham  abbey- 
church  in  furtherance  of  the  Crusades.  Henry  II,  who 
presided  in  person  as  an  example  to  his  people  to  take 
part  in  this  great  movement  of  Christendom  against 
the  Turks, promised  to  devote  2,000  marks  of  silver  and 
500  marks  of  gold  to  the  expedition.  At  the  same  time 
he  manifested  his  desire  to  rebuild  the  church  at  Wal- 
tham, and  the  north  clerestory  may  be  a  portion  of 
what  was  then  proje6led. 

In  1222  Hugh  de  Nerville,  one  of  the  most  popular 
heroes  of  the  age,  was  buried  at  Waltham  Holy  Cross. 
Matthew  Paris  tells  us  that  his  prowess  was  proved  in 
the  Holy  Land  by  his  attacking  and  killing  a  lion  single- 
handed.  The  same  authority  says  that  he  was  laid  to 
rest  "in  a  noble  sculptured  marble  tomb,"  which  no 
doubt  went  the  way  of  most  monuments  at  the  sup- 
pression of  the  abbey  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  new  choir  was  finished  in  1242,  and  dedicated  by 
the  bishop  of  Norwich  in  the  presence  of  many  bishops 
who  had  assembled  for  the  consecration  of  St  Paul's, 
London,  which  took  place  at  this  time.  Now  also  the 
western  arch  of  the  tower  was  filled  up  with  the  reredos 
of  the  parish  church  which  was  the  nave.  This  nave  is 
mainly  the  work  of  the  eleventh  century  and  remains 
much  as  it  was ;  the  present  tower  was  added  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary.  The  channel-cut  pillars  are  said  to 
remind  people  of  Durham  Cathedral,  and  both   were 

2^2 


Waltham  Abbey 

probably  built  about  the  same  time  in  the  reign  of 
Harold. 

Richard  II,  whilst  residing  in  the  place  within  the 
abbey  precincts  called  "  Rome-land,"  received  the  news 
of  the  rising  of  Wat  Tyler's  people.  For  sixteen  weeks 
the  body  of  Edward  I,  in  i  307,  lay  "beside  the  tomb 
of  Harold  and  was  then  taken  to  his  burial  past  the 
beautiful  cross  which  he  had  raised  in  loving  memory 
of  Queen  Eleanor." 

Besides  the  church  or  rather  the  nave  of  the  church, 
the  mutilated  abbey  gateway  also  still  exists,  and 
Harold's  bridge  still  spans  a  neighbouring  brook.  The 
conventual  buildings  have  long  disappeared  together 
with  the  greater  portion  of  the  church.  Robert  Fuller 
was  the  last  abbot,  having  received  the  charge  on  Sep- 
tember 4,  1526.  He  subsequently  became  prior  of 
St  Bartholomew's,  Smithfield,  and  held  the  two  offices 
together.  On  March  23,  1539,  he  surrendered  the 
abbey  into  the  King's  hands,  the  rental  then  being 
computed  at  over  ^900  a  year.  The  site,  etc.,  of  the 
house  was  almost  immediately  granted  by  Henry  VIII 
to  Sir  Anthony  Denny  for  thirty-one  years,  and  on  his 
death  his  widow  purchased  the  property  from  the  Crown 
for  over  ^3,000,  from  whom  the  present  owner,  Sir 
H.  Wade,  is  descended. 

There  is  no  detailed  account  of  the  work  of  dis- 
mantling Waltham  Abbey  at  the  suppression,  nor  of 
the  means  taken  to  get  rid  of  the  superfluous  buildings. 
It  was  in  the  hands  of  one  whose  name  appears  on 

233 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
many  of  the  accounts  and  who  once  signs  himself 
"Francis  Jobson,  Gentleman."  It  is  probable  that  the 
portion  of  the  great  church  which  we  still  possess  was 
saved  from  the  wreck  by  being  claimed  by  the  people 
of  Waltham  as  the  parish  church  of  the  place.  Francis 
Jobson  seems  to  have  calculated  the  value  of  the  lead 
upon  the  whole  church,  which  he  sets  down  as  being 
400  fodders,  and  worth  at  least  ^1,600.  He  counts  the 
value  of  twelve  bells  to  be  broken  up  and  sold  as  bell 
metal.  At  this  same  time,  Michaelmas,  1539,  he  esti- 
mates that  lead  and  bells  from  the  Essex  religious  houses 
to  the  value  of  ^^3,339  6s.  6d.  remained  unsold.  The 
goods  of  Waltham  Holy  Cross  which  had  been  dis- 
posed of  had  produced  ^202  i6s.  lod.  and  the  build- 
ings, etc.,  another  ^599  7s.  3Jd.  Besides  this  11 69 
ounces  of  plate,  consisting  of  479  ounces  of  silver  gilt; 
251  of  parcel  gilt  and  439  of  silver  had  been  sent  to 
the  King.  Also  there  had  been  reserved  for  His  Majesty 
"a  cup  called  a  serpentine";  nine  copes,  three  chasu- 
bles and  three  tunicles.  Two  of  these  copes  were  of  red 
tissue  with  the  images  of  the  Five  Wounds,  etc. 

Sir  Richard  Ryche,  Knight,  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Court  of  Augmentation,  subsequently  granted  to  the 
abbot  of  Waltham  and  his  fellow  canons  pensions  for 
having  surrendered  their  abbey  into  the  King's  hands. 


234 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Waverley 

NEAR  FARNHAM,  in  Surrey,  stand  the  few 
remnants  of  the  abbey  of  Waverley.  The  river 
Wey  flov^s  by  its  site,  and  a  mile  or  tv^o  away 
to  the  west  the  hills,  which  form  the  well-known 
"  Hogsback,"  rise  from  the  plain  and  stretch  away  to- 
wards Guildford  and  Dorking.  Mr  Francis  Joseph  Bai- 
gent,  in  his  monograph  on  this  monastery,  says  of  it 
that  the  fragments  of  the  buildings  certainly  do  not 
enable  us  to  realize  that  upon  this  spot  there  once 
stood  a  magnificent  and  grand  church  of  Early  English 
style,  exceeding  in  its  dimensions  several  of  our  cathe- 
drals, and  larger  than  the  abbey  church  of  Romsey  or 
the  priory  churches  of  Christ  Church,  Hampshire,  and 
St  Saviour's,  Southwick.  In  length  the  church  at  Waver- 
ley was  322ft,  and  the  transept  measured  165ft  across. 
From  the  west  end  to  the  transept  crossing  the  mea- 
surement was  195ft,  and  the  general  dimensions  of  this 
fine  church  were  almost  identical  with  the  great  min- 
ster at  Fountains,  which  is  still  sufficiently  inta6t  to 
display  its  noble  proportions.  The  latter  is  said  to  have 
been  forty  years  building,  whilst  the  erection  of  the 
former  occupied  seventy-five  years. 

Waverley  was  the  first  abbey  of  Cistercians  founded 

235 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
in  England,  and  for  this  reason  its  abbot  had  pre- 
eminence over  all  the  other  superiors  of  the  Order  in 
this  country.  William  GifFard,  the  second  bishop  of 
Winchester  after  the  Conquest,  brought  over  these 
white  monks  from  Aumone — one  of  their  monasteries 
in  Normandy.  They  had  been  founded  about  thirty 
years  before  by  Robert,  abbot  of  Molesme,  influenced  by 
Stephen  Harding,  an  Englishman  and  a  professed  monk 
of  Sherbourne.  The  Order  quickly  spread.  "The  mem- 
bers," says  a  modern  writer,  "  soon  became  noted  for  the 
greatest  excellence  in  the  professions  of  agriculture, 
archite6ture  and  commerce;  they  estabhshed  granges  or 
farms  upon  their  outlying  estates,  for  the  more  effec- 
tual utiHzation  of  the  produdions  of  the  land;  their 
stately  style  of  architedure — combining  use  with  ele- 
gance and  avoiding  unnecessary  display,  as  illustrated 
in  the  present  day  by  the  ruins  of  Furness,  Melrose, 
Kirkstall,  Fountains  and  Tintern — has  been  ahke  the 
wonder  and  envy  of  architects ;  their  merchandise  of 
wool  and  corn  was  noted  for  its  superiority  over  that 
of  less  assiduous  farmers." 

The  foundations  of  the  abbey  of  the  Blessed  Mary 
of  Waverley,  were  laid  by  Bishop  Giffard  on  Novem- 
ber 24,  1 1 28.  Furness,  colonised  from  Savigny,  became 
Cistercian  about  the  same  time;  and  Tintern,  Rievaulx, 
Fountains  and  others  quickly  followed,  until  by  the 
end  of  the  century  about  120  separate  houses  of  the 
Order  were  flourishing  on  English  soil.  According  to 
the  old  saying:  Bernardus  valles  amabat — Bernard  loved 

236 


Waverley 
the  valleys — the  Cistercian  houses  were  first  planted 
in  solitudes  and  in  out-of-the-way  and  uncultivated 
places.  By  a  rule  of  the  Order  these  foundations  v^ere 
all  placed  under  the  patronage  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  it  was  a  rule  that  no  other  monastery,  even  of  its 
own  Order,  was  to  be  built  within  a  certain  distance. 

Waverley  quickly  gave  evidence  of  life  and  sent 
out  several  colonies  of  sons  to  found  daughter  houses: 
Garendon,  in  Leicestershire,  was  the  first,  in  1133, 
followed  three  years  later  by  Ford,  in  Devon;  after 
which  it  established  Combe,  in  Warwickshire,  and 
Thame,  in  Oxfordshire.  These  daughter  houses  in  turn 
founded  seven  Cistercian  abbeys,  so  that  in  all  eleven 
monasteries,  direftly  or  indire6lly,  came  out  of  Wa- 
verley. 

Bishop  Giffard,  the  founder,  did  not  long  survive 
the  establishment  of  the  white  monks  at  Waverley, 
dying  within  two  months  of  the  date  assigned  to  the 
foundation.  Bishop  Henry  de  Blois,  who  succeeded  him 
in  the  See  of  Winchester,  was  a  Benedi6line  monk  and 
brother  of  King  Stephen,  who  had  been  abbot  of  Glas- 
tonbury. He  proved  himself  a  great  benefa6tor  to  the 
infant  community,  and  gave  the  monks  lands  and  the 
right  of  free  pasturage,  and  his  example  in  this  was 
followed  by  others. 

The  story  of  the  house  from  its  first  foundation  in 
1 1 28  to  its  suppression  in  the  sixteenth  century  does 
not  contain  very  much  of  general  interest.  This  will 
always  be  the  case  in  an  observant  monastery,  as  the 

237 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
tendency  of  human  nature  in  all  ages  is  to  note  and  com- 
ment upon  all  irregularity  of  life  rather  than  upon  regu- 
larity. The  vigour  and  popularity  of  the  house,  how- 
ever, are  evinced,  not  alone  by  the  colonies  it  sent 
forth,  but  by  the  faft  that  in   1187  its  community 
consisted  of  seventy  choir  monks  and  i  26  lay  brethren. 
The  leader  of  the  colony  from  Aumone,  Abbot  John, 
died  at  Midhurst,  in  Sussex,  on  his  way  back  from  the 
General  Chapter  at  Citeaux,  almost  direftly  the  founda- 
tions of  Waverley  had  been  laid.  During  the  abbacy 
of  the  second  abbot,  Gilbert,  the  four  foundations  above 
recorded  were  made.  The  story  of  the  troubles  of  one 
body  of  these   colonists   is  instru6tive.   The    twelve 
monks  arrived  at  their  new  home  with  their  abbot, 
Richard,  on  May  3,  1 1 36,  and  little  more  than  a  year 
later  their  founder  and  benefa6tor  died  before  he  had 
made  adequate  provision  for  the  community.  The  spot 
chosen  was  at  a  place  called  Brightley,  in  Devonshire, 
not  far  from  Okehampton,  where  the  connexion  of  the 
monks  with  the  place  is  still  recorded  by  the  name 
'Abbey  Ford  Wood."  The  situation  was  barren  and 
deserted,  and  after  the  death  of  their  friend  the  com- 
munity was  destitute  of  help  and  unable  to  find  even 
the  wherewith  to  live  upon.  After  five  years  of  hard 
struggles  the  monks  determined  to  abandon  their  en- 
deavour, to  acknowledge  their  failure,  and  to  return 
to  their  mother  house  of  Waverley.  They  had  already 
gone  part  of  their  way  thither  when  a  benefa6lress  un- 
expectedly appeared,  gave  them  her  manor  house  for 

238 


JJ^averley 
a  time,  and  then  built  them  a  monastery  afterwards  to 
be  known  as  Ford  Abbey,  from  the  passage  over  the 
river  Axe,  which  then  existed  at  this  spot. 

The  annals  of  Waverley  in  1201  record  a  terrific 
storm  on  July  8.  The  buildings  of  the  monastery  were 
inundated  and  much  damaged,  whilst  the  standing 
crops  with  their  hay  and  flax  were  entirely  destroyed. 
This  brought  upon  them  such  poverty  and  destitution 
that  the  monks  were  for  a  time  obliged  to  disperse  and 
seek  refuge  in  other  houses  of  their  Order.  In  1203, 
however,  their  situation  seems  to  have  improved  some- 
what, since  in  that  year  William,  recStor  of  Broadwater, 
in  Sussex,  began  to  set  the  foundation  of  their  church 
for  them.  In  12 14  sufficient  progress  had  been  made 
to  enable  Aylbin,  bishop  of  Ferns,  to  consecrate  five 
altars  in  the  church,  to  dedicate  the  cemetery  and  to 
"  bless  and  touch  with  chrism  "  the  consecration  crosses. 
Three  more  altars  were  dedicated  in  1226,  and  two 
again  in  1231,  so  that  in  the  great  monastic  church 
of  Waverley,  as  we  know  from  the  annals,  there  were 
at  least  eleven  altars. 

In  1233  the  annals  chronicle  another  destru6live 
storm  on  July  11.  The  cloisters  were  turned  into 
rivers,  we  are  told,  and  the  floods  swept  right  through 
the  buildings,  doing  great  damage.  Bridges  were 
carried  away,  stone  walls  fell  before  the  pressure  of 
water,  which  in  many  places  was  as  much  as  eight 
feet  deep. 

On  September  21,  1278,  the  great  church,  being 

239 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
entirely  finished  and  out  of  debt,  was  solemnly  dedi- 
cated by  Nicholas  de  Ely,  bishop  of  Winchester.  Six 
abbots  and  a  great  number  of  ecclesiastics  and  lay 
people  were  present.  It  was  calculated  that  at  the  ban- 
quet after  the  ceremony  7,000  people  were  entertained 
in  the  monastery,  and  for  the  eight  days  which  fol- 
lowed all  who  came  were  refreshed  at  the  cost  of  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  the  constant  friend  and  bene- 
fadlor  of  the  monks.  Two  years  later,  on  his  death, 
bishop  de  Ely  was  found  to  have  selected  Waverley  as 
his  burial  place,  and  he  was  the  only  bishop  of  Win- 
chester in  pre-Reformation  times  who  seleded  a  burial 
place  out  of  his  own  cathedral. 

The  great  pestilence  of  1 349  carried  off  several  of 
the  community  and  many  servants  of  Waverley  Abbey. 
Abbot  John,  who  had  been  eledled  May  14,  i  344,  was 
one  of  the  first  viftims  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1 349.  He  was  followed  by  another  abbot  named  John, 
who  was  blessed  by  bishop  de  Edyndon  in  his  private 
chapel  at  Esher  on  May  24.  This  abbot  ruled  the 
monastery  till  1361,  when  he,  too,  fell  aviftim  to  the 
second  outbreak  of  the  plague. 

We  may  pass  over  two  centuries  of  cloister  life  at  Waver- 
ley and  come  to  the  sixteenth  century.  William  Alynge, 
the  last  abbot,  was  chosen  about  1533,  and  so  at  once 
came  upon  troublesome  times.  In  1535  Henry  VIII  con- 
stituted Thomas  Crumwell  his  Vicar-General  in  all  eccle- 
siastical matters  and  Visitor-General  of  the  monasteries. 
Crumwell  forthwith  appointed  certain  men  on  whom 

240 


fF'ayerley 

he  could  rely  to  proceed  to  the  work  of  examining  the 
various  religious  houses  and  colleges.  The  three  most 
notorious  amongst  these  deputies  were  named  London, 
Layton  and  Legh.  In  Oftober,  1535,  as  Leyton  found 
that  he  would  not  be  comfortable  were  he  to  stop  at 
"  a  priory  of  minors  and  a  priory  of  canons  which  lay 
towards  Chichester,"  he  pushed  on,  as  he  told  Crum- 
well,  "to  an  abbey  of  Cistercians,  called  Waverley." 

Apparently  the  do6lor  did  not  enjoy  his  stay  at  the 
abbey,  as  an  existing  letter  shows.  This  paper  is  also 
interesting  as  proving  that  at  this  time,  through  the 
tyranny  of  the  Crown  in  forcing  lay  servants  upon  the 
monasteries,  the  unfortunate  monks  were  no  longer 
masters  in  their  own  houses.  "I  have  licensed  the  bringer, 
the  abbot  of  Waverley,"  he  writes,  "  to  repair  unto  you 
for  liberty  to  survey  his  husbandry,  whereupon  con- 
sisteth  the  wealth  of  his  monastery.  The  man  is  honest, 
but  none  of  the  children  of  Solomon:  every  monk 
within  his  house  is  his  fellow  and  every  servant  his 
master.  Mr  Treasurer  and  other  gentlemen  hath  put 
servants  unto  him,  whom  the  poor  [man]  dare  neither 
command  nor  displease.  Yesterday,  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, sitting  in  my  chamber  in  examination,  I  could 
neither  get  bread,  nor  drink,  neither  fire  of  those  knaves, 
till  I  was  fretished  [i.e.,  numb  with  cold] ;  and  the  abbot 
durst  not  speak  to  them.  I  called  all  before  me  and  for- 
got their  names,  but  took  from  every  man  the  keys  of 
his  office  and  made  new  officers  for  my  time  here,  per- 
chance as  stark  knaves  as  the  other.  It  shall  be  expedient 

241  16 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

for  you  to  give  him  a  lesson  and  tell  the  poor  fool  what 
to  do.  Among  his  monks  I  have  found  corruption  of 
the  worst  sort,  because  they  dwell  in  the  forest  of  all 
company." 

This  visit  was  quickly  followed  in  the  early  spring 
of  1536,  by  the  A61  of  Parliament  dissolving  all 
monasteries  below  the  value  of  £^100  a  year.  As 
the  net  income  of  Waverley  was  according  to  the  Valor 
Ecclesiasticus,  only  £ij^  8s.  3Jd.,  it  must  have  been 
at  once  apparent  to  the  abbot  and  his  community  that 
theirdoomwaspronounced.  William,AbbotAlyne,how- 
ever,  endeavoured  to  avert  the  impending  suppression 
by  sending  to  Crumwell  an  earnest  and  touching  appeal. 
"  Pleaseth  your  mastership,"  he  writes,  "  I  received 
your  letters  of  the  7th  day  of  this  present  month,  and 
hath  endeavoured  myself  to  accomplish  the  contents  of 
them,  and  have  sent  your  mastership  the  true  extent, 
value,  and  account  of  our  monastery.  Beseeching  your 
good  mastership,  for  the  love  of  Christ's  passion,  to  help 
to  the  preservation  of  this  poor  monastery  that  we  your 
beadsmen  may  remain  in  the  service  of  God,  with  the 
meanest  living  that  any  poor  man  may  live  with  in  the 
world.  So  to  continue  in  the  service  of  Almighty  Jesus 
and  to  pray  for  the  estate  of  our  prince  and  your  master- 
ship. Therefore  instantly  praying  you — and  my  poor 
brethren  with  weeping  eyes  desire  you  to  help  them, 
in  this  world  no  creatures  in  more  trouble.  And  so  we 
remain  depending  upon  the  comfort  that  shall  come 

to  us  from  you — serving  God  daily  at  Waverley." 

242 


JVaverley 
The  appeal  had  no  success;  and  it  is  difficult  to  sup- 
pose that  by  this  time  the  monks  themselves  were  really 
in  any  doubt  as  to  their  ultimate  fate.  Waverley  was 
one  of  the  first  to  fall,  for  as  early  as  July  20,  1536,  it 
was  suppressed  and  the  inmates  distributed  among  other 
houses  of  the  Order,  for  which  there  was  some  short 
respite.  The  same  day  the  King  granted  the  site  of  the 
abbey,  its  buildings,  etc.  to  Sir  William  Fitz-William, 
the  treasurer  of  his  household,  who,  as  appears  in  the 
letter  from  Layton  given  above,  had  taken  such  an  in- 
terest in  the  place  that  he  had  already  quartered  his 
servants  upon  the  abbot,  a  year  before  he  had  got  legal 
possession   of  his  expe(5ted  prize.   The  fad  that  Sir 
William  Fitz-William  at  once  obtained  possession  of 
the  abbey  "  in  as  full  and  ample  a  manner  as  William 
Alynge,  the  late  abbot,"  possessed  it  and  that  he  no 
doubt  immediately  entered  upon  his  new  acquisition, 
explains  why  on  the  Rolls  of  Ministers'  Accounts  there 
are  no  details  of  the  sales  of  the  movable  goods  or  of  the 
wrecking  of  the  church  and  of  the  domestic  buildings. 
Time,  however,  has  not  failed  to  bring  a  dire  destruc- 
tion upon  the  whole,  and  now  only  two  fragments  of 
buildings,  both  Early  English,  remain,  abutting  on  the 
river  Wey,  and  Waverley  is  probably  best  known  to 
the  present  generation  as  that  religious  house  which 
gave  to  Sir  Walter  Scott  a  title  for  his  immortal  series 
of  romances. 


243  i6a 


nn 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Westminster 

HERE  is  but  one  Westminster.  Other  monas- 
_  teries  can  claim  better  positions,  or  longer  his- 
Jl  tories  or  perhaps  some  more  wonderful  or 
special  feature  of  architedture;  but  none  can  recall 
historic  memories  like  Westminster.  It  is  a  place  the 
influence  of  which  grows  upon  the  mind  the  more  it 
is  known  and  the  deeper  it  is  studied.  The  inspiring 
height  of  the  nave  and  choir;  the  wonderful  transept 
front;  the  broken  pile  of  chapels  over-topped  by 
Henry  VIFs  crowning  work;  the  interior  so  grand, 
so  lofty,  so  graceful;  the  mysterious  apsidal  presbytery 
with  its  radiating  chapels;  all  these  features  of  the 
buildings  and  many  more  are  less  impressive  even 
than  the  story  which  attaches  to  the  walls,  and  which 
makes  Westminster  the  most  marvellous  National 
Monument  in  the  world.  Here  most  of  our  kings 
were  crowned,  and  here  the  most  illustrious  of  our 
dead  have  found  their  last  resting  places. 

The  history  of  St  Peter's,  Westminster,  goes  back 
into  the  mists  of  legend.  Some  have  spoken  of  a 
church  as  existing  on  an  island  in  the  marsh  lands 
of  Westminster  in  the  early  days  of  British  Chris- 
tianity; others  have  put  its  foundation  in  the  times 

244 


Westminster 
of  Ethelbert  of  Kent  and  the  first  Saxon  converts, 
whilst  William  of  Malmesbury  gives  the  credit  to 
St  Mellitus  himself.  One  pretty  and  ancient  story 
recounts  the  supernatural  consecration  of  the  church 
on  the  night  before  St  Mellitus  himself  had  arranged 
to  perform  the  ceremony.  Edric,  the  ferryman,  it  is 
said,  on  that  night  brought  over  the  river  from  Lam- 
beth a  strange  priest,  who  proved  to  be  St  Peter  him- 
self. Having  ordered  the  fisherman  to  remain,  the 
stranger  betook  himself  to  the  humble  church  on 
Thorney  island.  Thence  in  a  brief  time  afterwards 
came  the  sound  of  singing,  the  gleam  of  tapers  and 
the  smell  of  incense,  and  the  boatman  venturing  near, 
saw  that  an  innumerable  host  from  Heaven  accom- 
panied the  Apostle  in  the  ceremonial,  whilst  every- 
thing and  person  was  illuminated  by  a  supernatural 
light.  The  dedication  having  been  accomplished, 
St  Peter  returned  to  the  fisherman  and  declaring 
who  he  was,  told  him  to  go  at  daybreak  and  seek 
Mellitus  and  tell  him  that  in  proof  of  what  he  had 
done  the  bishop  would  find  the  marks  of  consecration 
crosses  on  the  walls  of  the  church.  As  a  further  pledge 
St  Peter  bade  the  man  sink  his  net  in  the  river,  and 
carry  to  the  bishop  one  of  the  fish  he  should  take. 
This  he  did,  and  captured  such  a  netful  of  salmon 
that  his  boat  could  hardly  contain  them.  For  centuries 
after,  in  memory  of  this,  the  monks  enjoyed  a  tithe  of 
fish  in  the  river  from  Jenlade  to  Staines,  and  every  year 
a  Thames  salmon,  the  first  of  the  season,  was  offered 

245 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
at  the  High  Altar,  and  the  fisherman  who  brought  it 
was  feasted  in  the  hall.  Only  less  wonderful  than  the 
tale  of  the  dedication  was  the  story  that  St  John  the 
Evangelist,  in  the  pilgrimage  which  legend  assigns  to 
him  until  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord,  once  found 
his  way  to  Westminster  and  trod  the  aisles  of  the 
church. 

Hardly  more  certain  than  these  pretty  legends  are  the 
indications  of  the  history  of  Thorney  in  Saxon  times. 
The  restorations  supposed  to  have  been  made  by  Kings 
Offa  and  Edgar  and  even  the  charters  of  St  Dunstan 
would  appear  to  be  open  to  some  suspicion,  although 
there  is  every  reason  to  think  that  there  was  a  monas- 
tic establishment  already  existing  when  King  Edward 
the  Confessor,  the  real  founder  of  Westminster,  built 
the  first  great  church  on  Thorney  island.  This  great 
work  the  pious  King  undertook  in  place  of  a  vow  of 
pilgrimage  to  Rome,  which  he  had  made  whilst  in 
exile.  At  great  cost  the  building  was  finished  in  a  very 
few  years,  and  it  was  altogether  constructed  in  a  style 
at  that  time  new  in  England;  it  was  the  first  Norman 
church  ever  ere6ted  in  England.  One  writer  describes 
it  as  a  building  "supported  by  many  pillars  and  arches," 
and  Matthew  Paris  speaks  of  it  as  having  been  built 
"in  a  new  style,"  which,  he  adds,  "served  as  a  pattern 
much  followed  in  the  ereftion  of  other  churches."  A 
description  written  at  the  time  is  as  follows:  "The 
principal  area  or  nave  of  the  church  stood  on  lofty 
arches  of  hewn  stone,  jointed  together  in  the  neatest 

246 


Westminster 

manner;  the  vault  was  covered  with  a  strong  double- 
arched  roof  of  stone  on  both  sides.  The  cross,  which 
embraced  the  choir,  and  by  its  transept  supported  a 
high  tower  in  the  middle,  rose  first  with  a  low  strong 
arch,  and  then  swelled  out  with  several  winging  stair- 
cases to  the  single  wall,  up  to  the  wooden  roof  which 
was  carefully  covered  with  lead."  Besides  the  tower 
spoken  of  here  St  Edward's  church  had  two  other 
towers  at  the  western  end  and  an  apse  at  the  eastern 
end.  The  Confessor  also  built  the  cloisters  and  a  round 
Chapter  House,  whilst  the  undercroft  of  his  dormitory 
still  exists. 

Having  completed  his  church,  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor summoned  the  nobility  and  clergy  to  the  dedi- 
cation. On  Christmas  Eve,  1065,  however,  before  the 
date  of  the  ceremony,  he  fell  ill,  and  for  that  reason 
anticipated  the  day  appointed  for  the  solemnity.  He 
had  only  time  to  hold  it,  and  thus  to  witness  the  com- 
pletion of  his  work,  when  he  died  on  January  5, 1066, 
and  was  buried  in  the  new  church  the  following  day, 
the  feast  of  the  Epiphany.  Thirty-six  years  after,  under 
Gilbert,  the  Norman  abbot,  the  tomb  was  opened  and 
the  body  found  perfectly  incorrupt. 

The  next  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  church 
of  Westminster  is  the  building  erected  by  Henry  HI. 
In  I  22 1  the  new  work  was  commenced  at  the  Lady 
chapel,  and  the  first  stone  was  laid  that  year  on  Whit- 
sun  Eve  by  the  King  in  person.  The  chapel  then 
erected  was  subsequently  taken  down  only  to  make 

247 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
way  for  that  of  Henry  VII.  Twenty-five  years  later, 
in  1 245,  the  King,  Henry  III,  pulled  down  the  greater 
part  of  the  church.  Matthew  Paris  says  he  ordered 
the  east  end,  the  tower  and  transept  to  be  taken  down 
and  rebuilt  in  a  more  elegant  style  at  his  own  expense. 
It  is  difficult  to  say  what  the  work  cost  from  first  to 
last.  In  1254,  nine  years  after  it  had  been  begun,  we 
have  the  barons  of  the  exchequer  ordered  to  apply  to 
it  the  annual  sum  of  3,000  marks,  and  it  is  calculated 
that  during  the  twelve  years  of  the  abbacy  of  Richard 
de  Crokesley  the  sum  of  ^(^2 9,600  was  spent  in  money 
of  that  time. 

The  result  we  may  rejoice  in  to-day.  "  It  has,"  says  a 
writer,  "  all  that  soaring  loftiness,  the  wonderful  charm 
and  beauty  of  art,  ever  fresh  to  the  eye  and  educated 
taste,  which  mark  it  out  from  all  others,  though  they 
may  be  richer  or  vaster  in  dimension."  The  most 
marked  feature  of  the  whole  structure  is  the  French 
arrangement  of  an  apse  and  chapels  radiating  from  the 
aisles,  but  in  the  carrying  out  of  this  design,  West- 
minster shows  an  independent  English  judgement  work- 
ing on  a  foreign  plan.  The  spaciousness  of  the  triforia 
is  said  to  have  been  "  specially  designed  to  accommo- 
date thousands  as  witnesses  of  coronations  and  funerals 
of  kings  and  queens  in  the  chief  national  church." 

Matthew  Paris  gives  a  minute  account  of  the  trans- 
lation to  Westminster  of  a  relic  of  the  Precious  Blood 
in  1247.  This  treasure  had  been  brought  back  from 
the  Holy  Land,  well  authenticated,  as  a  present  to  the 

248 


VVKSTMlNbTEK    ABBEY  :     NA\  L    AND    CliUIK    1  KoM    THE    WEST 


Westminster 
King,  and  Henry  determined  to  present  it  to  West- 
minster. So  the  day  after  the  feast  of  the  translation  of 
the  Confessor,  the  King  directed  the  London  clergy  to 
assemble  at  St  Paul's,  where  the  reliquary  had  been 
previously  placed,  and  to  form  there  a  procession  in 
copes  and  surplices,  with  crosses  and  banners,  etc.  He 
himself,  in  the  dress  of  a  poor  man  and  on  foot,  carried 
the  reliquary.  The  monks  of  Westminster  with  many 
bishops,  abbots  and  others  came  to  meet  him  as  far  as 
Durham  House,  and  then  joined  in  bringing  the  relic 
with  honour  to  the  abbey.  There  at  the  High  Altar 
the  King  made  his  offering  of  it  to  St  Edward  and  to 
the  monks  of  the  monastery. 

Matthew  Paris,  who  gives  the  account,  notes  an 
incident  as  regards  himself.  He  was  present  at  the 
ceremony  with  three  companion  monks  of  St  Albans, 
and  when  the  King  had  sat  down,  seeing  the  historian 
standing  by  and  recognizing  him,  he  called  him  by 
name  and  made  him  sit  at  his  side  on  the  step  of  the 
throne.  He  then  turned  to  him  and  asked  him  if  he 
had  seen  everything  and  remembered  what  to  write, 
and  on  Matthew  replying  that  he  taken  note  of  all 
that  had  happened,  the  King  expressed  his  great  satis- 
faction, and  added,  "I  beg,  and  in  begging  order 
you,  to  write  fully  and  expressly  about  all  this,  and  to 
insert  the  account  in  a  book,"  that  it  may  always  be 
remembered  by  posterity. 

During  the  abbacy  of  Richard  Ware,  in  1268,  the 
pavement  in  the  sanctuary  was  laid  down.  Abbot  Ware 

249 


The  Greater  Abbeys 

had  been  in  Rome  in  1267,  and  it  is  thought  that  he 
probably  brought  back  with  him  the  material  for  this 
work  and  possibly  also  the  workmen.  To-day  a  sufficient 
portion  of  this  beautiful  inlaid  pavement  remains  to 
suggest  its  former  splendour.  A  second  mosaic  pave- 
ment of  the  date  of  Edward  I  may  be  seen  in  the  Con- 
fessor's chapel.  The  altar  reredos  is  fifteenth-century 
work  and  has  two  doors  to  it,  which  lead  to  the  chapel 
of  the  shrine,  the  exquisite  base  of  which  was  the  work 
of  "Pietro,  citizen  of  Rome."  The  remains  of  the 
Confessor  were  translated  to  this  new  shrine  on  Oc- 
tober 13,  1269.  This  event  is  thus  commemorated, 
"the  13th  day  of  October,  the  King  lette  translate 
with  great  solemnity  the  holy  body  of  Saint  Edward, 
King  and  Confessor,  that  before  laid  in  the  side  of  the 
choir,  into  the  chapel  at  the  back  of  the  High  Altar 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  and  there  laid  it  in  a  rich 
shrine." 

In  the  year  1296  King  Edward  I  brought  to  Eng- 
land the  regalia  of  Scotland,  with  the  well-known 
stone  of  Scone,  used  at  all  the  coronations  in  that  latter 
kingdom.  This  was  placed  in  the  abbey  church,  and  is 
still  preserved  beneath  the  coronation  chair. 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  detail  the  events  con- 
nected with  the  abbey  in  any  sequence,  within  the 
narrow  limits  of  a  chapter.  Simon  Langham  became 
abbot  in  1 349  on  the  death  of  his  predecessor,  Symon 
de  Bircheston,  during  the  great  plague.  Westminster 
was  grievously  visited  by  this  sickness.  On  March  10, 

250 


WESTMINSTKK    ABBEY:     TllK    SOUTH    AMBULAIOKV 


Westminster 
1349,  in  proroguing  Parliament  for  the  second  time, 
the  King  declared  that  it  was  worse  than  ever.  Some 
weeks  later  the  monastery  was  attacked;  early  in  May 
Abbot  Bircheston  died  at  Hampstead,  and  almost  at  the 
same  time  twenty-seven  of  the  monks  were  committed 
to  a  common  grave  in  the  south  cloister.  To  relieve 
the  urgent  needs  of  the  house  and  those  round  about 
it  ;C3 1  5  1 3s.  8d.  worth  of  plate  and  ornaments  were 
sold.  Simon  Langham  had  only  become  a  monk  in 
1335,  but  he  early  manifested  his  powers,  and  had 
already  succeeded  the  prior,  carried  off  by  sickness,  in 
April,  1349,  when  in  May  on  the  death  of  the  abbot 
he  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He  quickly  rose  to  the 
highest  position  in  church  and  state,  in  1368  being 
created  Cardinal.  His  body  rests  at  Westminster  in  the 
chapel  of  St  Benedict,  beneath  a  tomb  of  alabaster. 
The  historian  of  Westminster  says  that  from  first  to 
last  Cardinal  Langham's  benefactions  to  his  monastery 
amounted  to  the  sum  of  ^10,800. 

Nicholas  Litlington,  who  became  abbot  in  1362, 
added  to  the  buildings  by  his  provident  care.  The 
great  hall  of  the  abbey  was  his  work,  the  Jerusalem 
chamber  and  what  is  now  the  dormitory  of  the  boys, 
also  two  sides  of  the  cloister,  the  south  and  west  walks, 
as  we  have  them  now.  Beyond  his  additions  to  the 
buildings,  Abbot  Litlington  gave  much  to  the  sacristy 
in  the  way  of  plate  and  precious  vestments. 

At  Westminster  there  was  a  celebrated  and  fre- 
quently used  sanctuary.  On  the  return  of  Henry  VI  to 

251 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
the  throne  in  1470,  for  instance,  Elizabeth,  Queen  of 
Edward  IV  took  sanctuary,  and  whilst  still  here  a 
prince  was  born  "and  christened  in  the  abbey,"  whose 
godfathers  were  the  abbot  and  prior  of  the  said  place. 
The  prince  in  time  became  King  Edward  V,  when  the 
abbot,  Thomas  Millyng,  his  godfather,  was  promoted 
to  the  See  of  Hereford.  In  1483  John  Estney,  Millyng's 
successor,  again  received  the  Queen  of  Edward  IV  into 
sanctuary,  whither  she  had  fled  with  five  princesses  on 
the  arrest  of  Earl  Rivers.  The  news  was  taken  to  Arch- 
bishop Rotherham  the  Chancellor,  who  was  then  at 
York  Place,  near  Westminster.  "Whereupon,"  says  the 
historian,  "the  Bishop  called  up  his  servants  before  day- 
light .  .  .  and  came  before  day  to  the  Queen,  about 
whom  he  found  much  heaviness,  rumble,  haste,  busi- 
ness, conveyance  and  carriageof  her  stufFinto  sanctuary. 
Every  man  was  busy  to  carry,  bear  and  convey  stuif, 
chests  and  ferdelles;  no  man  was  unoccupied  and  some 
carried  more  than  they  were  commanded  to  another 
place.  The  Queen  sat  alone  below  on  the  rushes  all 
desolate  and  dismayed.  .  .  .And  when  he  opened  his 
windows  and  looked  on  the  Thames,  he  might  see  the 
river  full  of  boats  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  his  ser- 
vants watching  that  no  person  should  go  to  sanctuary 
nor  none  should  pass  unsearched." 

It  was  just  before  this  time  that  under  the  patronage 
of  Abbot  Estney,  Caxton  began  to  exercise  here  the 
art  of  printing,  and  set  up  the  first  printing  press  in 
England  within  the  precinds  of  Westminster  Abbey. 

252 


Westminster 
In  the  year  i  500  John  Islip  was  unanimously  ele6led 
abbot.  At  that  period  it  seemed  almost  certain  that 
Henry  VI  would  have  been  canonised  and  the  abbot 
and  community  petitioned  the  King  to  remove  the 
body  from  Windsor  where  it  was  buried.  It  is  said  that 
the  monks  did  remove  it  at  a  cost  of  >f  500,  and  on 
January  24,  the  following  year,  1502,  Abbot  Islip, 
assisted  by  several  of  the  King's  ministers,  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  new  Lady  chapel,  which  was  to  be 
built  by  King  Henry  VII  as  a  shrine  for  the  remains 
of  his  saintly  predecessor.  The  Lady  chapel  built  by 
Henry  III  and  a  tavern  called  "  The  White  Rose  "  were 
pulled  down  to  make  way  for  it.  When  the  chapel  was 
finished,  the  charges  are  said  to  have  amounted  to  some 
jf  14,000  of  money  in  those  days.  Estates  had  been 
given  by  the  King  to  support  the  expenses,  and  to  help 
the  endowment  Henry  VII  procured  from  the  Pope 
permission  to  suppress  two  religious  houses,  Mottis- 
ford  in  Hampshire  and  Suffield  in  Buckinghamshire, 
and  to  devote  their  revenues  to  his  foundation.  In  i  5 1 8 
Cardinals  Wolsey  and  Campeggio  with  joint  legislative 
powers  visited  Westminster,  and  Polydore  Vergil  par- 
ticularly noted  the  strictness  of  the  life  led  there  by 
the  monks. 

In  1536  the  monks  were  invited  to  exchange  certain 
manors  belonging  to  Westminster  for  the  lands  of  the 
priory  of  Hurley  in  Berkshire.  At  this  time  the  dissolved 
Convent  garden,  now  known  as  Covent  Garden,  appears 
to  have  passed  from  the  abbey  to  the  Crown.  Three 

253 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
years  later,  on  January  i6,  1540,  the  abbey  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  Crown  by  the  abbot  and  twenty-four 
monks,  and,  as  an  abbey,  ceased  to  exist.  As  it  formed 
part  of  the  King's  declared  project  to  create  a  bishopric 
out  of  the  abbey,  the  buildings  were  not  considered, 
as  in  other  cases,  "unnecessary,"  and  so  "defaced." 
Westminster  was  thus  saved,  although  despoiled  of  its 
most  precious  treasures.  In  the  list  of  plate  two  or  three 
items  that  were  reserved  to  the  King's  use  would  be 
particularly  valuable  could  we  but  have  them  to-day; 
"a  cup  called  'the  maser  belle  or  St  Edward's  maser'; 
a  cross  of  beryl"  and  "a  dish  or  basin  of  precious  stones 
called  agate,  ornamented  with  gold,  precious  stones  and 
pearls."  Of  altar  furniture  carried  off  there  is  specially 
noted:  "Two  altar  hangings,  called  frontals,  of  cloht 
of  gold  worked  with  lions,  fleur-de-lys  and  the  arms  of 
the  late  Abbot  Islip."  "Five  copes  of  needlework  (one 
called  St  Peter's  cope,  one  cope  with  angels  of  pearl, 
and  three  others  called  Jesses)  with  two  tunicles;  one 
chasuble  with  seven  silver  gilt  buttons,  together  with 
albs,  stoles  and  mantles  of  the  same  work."  Sixteen 
copes  of  cloth  of  gold  of  various  colours;  one  of  blue 
with  a  chasuble,  etc.  These  were  carried  away  "for 
the  King's  use,"  but  what  became  of  them  "history 
relateth  not." 

I  might  here  close  this  account  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  as  the  "new  foundation"  has  obviously  no  part 
with  the  old,  and  the  very  name  "  abbey  "  is  now  merely 
a  memorial  of  the  past  and  a  record  of  the  "passing  of 

254 


Westminster 
the  monk."  But  a  word  may  be  usefully  said  of  the 
brief  return  of  the  Benedidine  monks  to  their  old 
quarters  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  Dr  Fecken- 
ham,  at  the  time  dean  of  St  Pauls,  had  been  a  monk 
at  Evesham  before  the  suppression  of  that  monastery, 
and  on  the  proposal  to  re-establish  the  monks  at  West- 
minster, he  resigned  his  deanery  at  St  Paul's  and  be- 
coming abbot  of  Westminster  began  the  old  routine 
of  monastic  observance.  On  the  accession  of  Queer 
Elizabeth  the  abbey  was  again  speedily  suppressed. 


255 


CHAPTER  XXX 

Welbeck 

THE  abbey  of  Premonstratensian  canons  of 
Welbeck  was  first  established  in  the  parish  of 
Cuckney ,  six  miles  from  Welbeck  in  the  county 
of  Nottingham,  by  a  colony  from  Newhouse  in  1 153. 
The  founders  were  originally  Richard  le  Flemyng  and 
Thomas  de  Cuckney,  but  in  1329  John  Hothum, 
Bishop  of  Ely,  bought  the  manor  from  the  heirs  of 
de  Flemyng  and  other  lands  and  advowsons.  The 
manor  and  the  lands  he  settled  upon  the  canons,  and 
he  thus  became  acknowledged  as  the  second  founder 
of  Welbeck  Abbey,  which  was  placed  under  the  patron- 
age of  St  James  the  Apostle,  the  saint  to  whom  the 
old  church  of  the  place  had  been  dedicated.  In  process 
of  time  Welbeck  Abbey  became  possessed  of  ten  paro- 
chial churches  and  two  chapelries.  Five  of  the  parishes 
were  served  by  the  canons  themselves  as  perpetual 
vicars.  Welbeck  Abbey  claimed  to  have  established  nine 
other  Premonstratensian  houses,  but  in  regard  to  two 
of  these,  namely  Hales  Owen  and  Titchfield,  this  pre- 
tension could  not  be  sustained.  Its  position  and  influence 
were,  perhaps,  higher  than  those  of  other  establishments 
of  the  Order  in  England,  and  before  the  sixteenth 
century  it  became,  tacitly  at  least,  acknowledged  as 
the  chief  English  house. 

256 


Welbeck 

The  gift  of  the  bishop  of  Ely  in  1 329  entailed  many 
obligations  upon  the  community.  They  undertook,  in 
the  first  place,  to  find  eight  canons  who  should  offer 
up  prayers  for  King  Edward  III  and  his  grandfather, 
and  for  many  specified  benefactors.  They  promised  to 
pray  for  the  bishop  during  life,  and  to  celebrate  for 
ever  his  anniversary  when  dead  in  the  most  solemn 
way  possible,  and  by  giving  doles  to  the  poor.  When- 
ever any  of  the  eight  appointed  canons  should  be 
unable  to  say  Mass,  others  were  to  be  named  to  the  duty. 

The  abbot  and  his  canons  further  promised  that 
they  would  themselves  never  do  anything  to  try  and 
get  rid  of  this  obligation  or  to  lighten  it.  Every  new 
abbot,  before  the  community  made  their  obedience  to 
him  at  his  installation  to  office,  was  to  swear  solemnly 
to  keep  this  promise,  and  so  was  every  novice  before 
being  admitted  to  the  habit  of  the  house.  In  order 
that  the  provisions  of  the  agreement  might  never  be 
forgotten,  the  deed  made  between  the  bishop  of  Ely 
and  the  abbot  of  Welbeck  was  to  be  publicly  read  in 
Chapter  before  the  brethren  each  year  on  the  day  of 
All  Souls. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Welbeck  during 
the  400  years  of  its  existence  is  mainly  derived  from 
the  visitations  and  other  documents  preserved  by 
Bishop  Redman,  the  representative  of  the  abbot  of 
Premontre  in  England,  for  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  A  few  earlier  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the 
same  Registers^  and   from  one  of  them  an  interesting 

257  17 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
insight  into  the  procedure  at  an  election  at  Welbeck 
may  be  obtained.  John  de  Norton,  the  late  abbot,  had 
died,  and  at  once  the  canons  acquainted  the  abbot  of 
the  mother  house,  Robert,  abbot  of  Newhouse,  so  that 
he  might  come  to  Welbeck  and  hold  the  election  of  a 
successor.  April  13,  1450,  was  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  at  this  time  John,  abbot  of  Dale,  was  also  in 
the  house.  After  the  High  Mass  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
had  been  sung,  all  the  canons  assembled  in  the  Chapter 
House,  where,  after  prayer  and  consideration,  the  com- 
munity begged  the  two  abbots  to  make  choice  of  a 
fitting  superior  for  them. 

After  some  hesitation  these  two  prelates  consented 
to  this  course,  and  at  the  end  of  a  good  deal  of  con- 
sultation with  the  fathers  of  the  abbey,  they  chose 
one  of  the  Welbeck  canons  named  John  Green  to  fill 
the  vacant  office.  Upon  this,  the  fact  of  the  election 
was  published  in  the  Chapter,  and,  the  unwilling  con- 
sent of  the  elect  having  been  obtained,  the  abbot  of 
Newhouse,  as  "  the  father  abbot,"  confirmed  the  act 
on  behalf  of  the  Order.  All  the  community  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  church,  singing  the  TV  Deum,  where 
they  installed  the  newly-elected  abbot  and  put  him 
into  possession  of  the  church  by  placing  the  bell-cords 
and  the  keys  of  the  doors  in  his  hands.  Then  one  by 
one  the  canons  came,  and,  kneeling,  renewed  their 
obedience.  The  obedientiaries  also,  as  a  sign  of  obedi- 
ence and  subjection,  laid  their  various  keys  at  the  feet 
of  the  new  superior.  On  the  part  of  the  elect,  before 

258 


Welheck 
the  community  had  done  their  obedience,  the  official 
document  of  the  election  declares  that  John  Green,  the 
elect,  took  an  oath  to  carry  out  the  agreement  between 
Welbeck  and  Bishop  John  Hothum. 

On  May  6,  1462,  Bishop  Richard  Redman  made 
his  first  official  visitation  to  Welbeck.  He  found 
this  same  John  Green  still  abbot,  but  very  old  and 
infirm.  The  house  was  in  a  most  excellent  state,  and 
all  that  the  visitor  could  find  to  blame  was  a  laxity  in 
regard  to  the  rule  of  silence.  "Otherwise,"  he  says,  "the 
members  of  this  community  are  united  to  their  superior 
in  all  charity,  brotherly  love,  and  peace  and  manifest 
themselves  as  true  sons  of  obedience."  The  choir  duties 
are  carried  out  exactly  {ad  ungtiem),  and  the  old  abbot 
is  the  first  to  bear  all  the  burdens. 

The  next  recorded  visit  was  made  in  1478 :  William 
Burton  was  then  abbot,  and  the  community  consisted 
of  eighteen  canons  and  two  novices.  Bishop  Redman 
thought  that  the  abbot  was  trying  to  govern  too  much 
according  to  his  own  will  and  without  officials,  and  by 
an  exercise  of  his  visitorial  powers  the  bishop  filled  up 
the  vacant  offices  and  warned  Br  John  Warburton, 
whom  he  appointed  circator^  that  it  was  his  duty  to 
see  that  the  cloister  doors  were  fastened  at  night  and 
at  the  proper  times  of  the  day.  He  pointed  out  to  the 
abbot  that  there  were  many  repairs  that  should  be  seen 
to  at  once  if  the  house  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  fall 
into  ruin.  The  canons  were  to  rise  for  the  night  office 
and  were  not  to  shirk  this  duty,  and,  as  a  report  had 

259  i-ja 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
reached  him  that  some  of  the  community  had  gone 
hunting  and  shooting  arrows,  the  visitor  commanded 
that  this  should  not  be  allowed  to  any. 

There  are  indications  here  that  the  rule  of  the  abbot 
was  not  what  it  should  be.  It  was  at  best  a  great  con- 
trast to  that  of  Abbot  John  Green,  and  four  years  later, 
when  Bishop  Redman  came  again  he  had  to  take 
drastic  measures  to  save  Welbeck  from  ruin.  He  found 
that  Abbot  Burton  had  dissipated  the  goods  of  the 
house ;  buildings  were  in  ruin  for  want  of  repair,  and 
lands,  woods  and  tithes  belonging  to  the  community 
had  been  pledged  without  the  consent  of  the  brethren. 
More  than  this,  nearly  all  the  plate  of  the  monastery 
had  been  pawned  or  got  rid  of  in  some  way  or  other, 
so  that  only  one  silver  cup  could  be  produced  to  the 
visitor.  As  for  the  abbey  buildings,  they  stood  in  urgent 
need  of  repair,  as  nothing  had  been  done  to  them 
during  this  administration.  The  woods  had  been  cut 
down  without  consideration  to  make  money;  the  abbot 
also  had  sold  all  the  oxen  and  cattle  and  sheep  of  the 
abbey,  and  the  stores  were  so  empty  that  it  was  fre- 
quently hard  to  find  necessary  supplies  of  oil,  wax  and 
wine.  Welbeck  was  indeed  in  a  state  of  desolation  by 
the  misrule  of  the  superior.  But  there  was  worse ; 
Abbot  Burton  was  defamed  in  the  neighbourhood  for 
his  bad  life,  and  the  visitor,  after  thorough  inquiry, 
found  that  the  report  was  well  founded  and  proven. 
He  at  once  removed  him  from  his  office  and  sent  him 
to  do  penance  at  Barlings  Abbey  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

For  the  next  eight  or  ten  years  the  abbey  does  not 

260 


fFelbeck 
appear  to  have  been  able  to  recover  from  this  period 
of  misrule.  Though  wrong  doers  are  alw^ays  punished, 
and  punished  severely,  the  laxity  appears  at  the  periodic 
visits  in  several  minor  matters ;  games  for  money  were 
at  one  time  becoming  common  and,  of  course,  pro- 
hibited ;  too  many  of  the  community  were  going  to 
the  "  meat  room  "  and  shirking  the  regular  fasts  ;  the 
same  was  seen  in  regard  to  a  catching  slackness  in 
rising  for  midnight  matins.  In  1494,  however.  Bishop 
Redman  is  pleased  to  declare  that  he  found  everything 
again  in  an  excellent  state,  and  that  he  could  see 
nothing  to  blame  or  to  correct.  The  list  of  the  com- 
munity at  this  time  shows  more  vigour  than  on  pre- 
vious visitations,  as  there  are  no  less  than  five  novices, 
all  of  whom  are  found  subsequently  to  have  persevered 
in  the  regular  life.  Three  years  later,  September  3, 1497, 
Wei  beck  has  the  same  excellent  report,  and  in  1500, 
the  last  visitation  of  which  we  have  any  record,  beyond 
the  necessity  of  some  minor  corrections.  Bishop  Red- 
man is  able  to  give  the  same  good  account  of  the  abbey. 
One  of  the  last  abbots  of  Welbeck  was  John  Maney, 
bishop  of  Elphin,  who  became  commendatory  of  Wel- 
beck in  1520.  At  the  Dissolution  the  abbey  was  ruled 
by  one  Richard  the  abbot,  and  he  with  seventeen  canons 
signed  the  deed  of  surrender  on  June  20,  1538.  At 
that  time  the  net  value  of  the  abbey  was  stated  to 
be  ^^249  6s.  3d.  The  site  was  granted  in  the  same 
year  to  Richard  Whalley.  The  goods  of  the  abbey  at 
the  general  wreck  sold  for  £i()2  17s.  4d.,  which  must 
have  been  a  very  small  amount  of  their  value. 

261 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

Whalley 

THE  abbey  of  Whalley  in  Lancashire  was  first 
founded  in  1172  for  the  Cistercians  by  John 
Constable  of  Chester  and  Baron  of  Halton,  at 
Stanlaw,  in  Cheshire.  It  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  Order, 
and  the  name  given  it  in  the  charter  of  foundation  was 
Benedictus  locus ^  "  the  blessed  spot."  The  situation  of  the 
monastery  was  near  the  Cheshire  shores  of  the  Mersey, 
and  this  site  was  soon  found  to  be  low  and  unhealthy; 
at  spring  tides  the  monastery  became  inaccessible,  the 
waters  were  constantly  encroaching  upon  the  adjoining 
lands,  and  at  times  they  even  invaded  the  monastic 
offices  to  the  depth  of  three  feet.  In  consideration  of 
these  inconveniences,  Pope  Nicholas  IV  gave  permis- 
sion for  the  monks  to  transfer  their  monastery  to 
Whalley  in  Lancashire  where  a  place  had  been  pro- 
vided for  them  by  Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln.  The 
establishment,  therefore,  of  Whalley  Abbey  dates  from 
1296. 

The  building  of  the  church  was  commenced  at 
once,  and  it  was  dedicated  in  April,  1306.  Whitaker 
has  given  a  few  particulars  of  the  structure:  The  stone 
with  which  the  buildings  were  constructed  came  from 
the  quarries  of  Read  and  Svmondstone,  the  church  was 


262 


I' 


--^-^* ' 


..f^t^^' 


WHALLEY    abbey:     THE    ABBOTS    HOUSE 


Whalley 

255  feet  long,  divided  into  a  nave  of  ten  bays  and  a 
choir  and  presbytery  of  two;  the  transepts,  142  feet 
across,  had  three  chapels  in  each  wing.  The  refectory 
and  kitchen  appear  to  have  been  completed  between 
1362  and  1425,  and  the  last  portion  of  the  ori- 
ginal plan  is  said  to   have   been   taken   in   hand   in 

Very  little  now  remains  of  the  buildings,  a  portion 
only  of  the  south  aisle  wall  and  the  south  and  west 
walls  of  the  transept  are  still  standing.  On  the  out- 
side of  the  south  wall,  where  the  cloister  used  to  be, 
is  a  recess,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  intended 
for  the  aumbry,  to  hold  the  books  used  by  the  monks 
when  reading  in  the  cloister.  The  entrance  to  the 
Chapter  House  and  the  door  of  the  refeftory  are  also 
preserved.  The  infirmary  lies  back  in  its  own  quad- 
rangle of  42  feet,  and  it  contained  a  refeftory  with 
dormitory  for  the  sick  over  it  and  a  chapel  over  an 
undercroft.  The  approach  to  the  abbey  was  by  two 
gateways  still  remaining.  The  entire  establishment 
comprised  three  quadrangles  and  outlying  offices:  the 
first  and  most  westerly  was  the  great  cloister  with  the 
church  forming  the  north  side,  the  Chapter  House  and 
vestry  the  east,  the  dormitory  the  west,  and  the  re- 
fe6lory  and  kitchen  the  south. 

The  foundation  of  Whalley  was  opposed  by  the 
abbot  of  the  neighbouring  Cistercian  abbey  of  Sawley. 
The  community  of  the  latter  monastery  considered  that 

the  new  establishment  was  too  near  to  it,  and  that  it  was 

263 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
against  the  constitution  of  the  Cistercian  Order  for  two 
houses  to  be  built  so  close  together.  Further,  the  fad 
that  both  monasteries  had  to  purchase  provisions,  etc., 
within  the  one  district  of  Craven  had  already  raised 
prices;  the  Sawley  monks  were  consequently  compelled 
to  go  further  afield,  and  to  be  obliged  to  travel  forty 
or  fifty  leagues  always  over  bad  roads  was  in  reality  a 
great  injury.  Also,  they  complained  that,  since  the 
Whalley  monks  had  been  building,  the  monks  at 
Sawley  had  found  that  the  timber  they  needed  cost 
them  thirty  shillings  a  year  more  than  before,  and  the 
same  was  true  in  regard  to  fish,  fowl,  eggs,  etc.,  for 
the  refeftory;  fish,  moreover,  came  to  Sawley  less  fre- 
quently, and  when  the  merchants  did  bring  it,  it  was 
dearer  than  it  ever  was  before.  This  complaint  of 
Sawley  was  carried  before  the  General  Chapter  of  the 
Order,  and  was  finally  settled  by  a  commission  of  Cis- 
tercian abbots  in  1305.  The  two  convents  agreed  to 
assist  each  other  in  all  business  matters,  as  if  their 
interests  were  common,  and  by  this  means  the  nearness 
of  one  house  to  the  other  would  not  materially  affe6t 
the  prosperity  of  either. 

The  three  centuries  of  history  in  this  monastery  do 
not  present  any  incident  of  special  interest.  The  last 
abbot,  John  Paslew,  was  chosen  in  1 506,  and  ruled  the 
abbey  for  thirty  years,  and  indeed  until  the  seizure  of 
the  abbey  by  the  King  in  1537  at  the  attainder  of  its 
abbot  on  a  charge  of  high  treason.  The  story  of  this 
seizure  of  the  monastery  illustrates  one  of  the  ways  by 

264 


JVhalley 
which  the  crown  became  possessed  of  monastic  pro- 
perty in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  rising  of  the  people  against  the  royal  proceed- 
ings, and  in  particular  against  the  dissolution  of  the 
smaller  monasteries  in  Lincolnshire  and  the  north, 
took  place  in  1536.  During  the  later  movement, 
known  as  the  "  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,"  the  insurgents 
had  certainly  operated  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Whalley.  Indeed,  Sawley  Abbey, which  was  only  a  short 
distance  away  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  suppressed 
under  the  act  of  1536  for  dissolving  the  lesser  monas- 
teries. It  was  reopened  by  the  people,  and  the  monks 
who  had  been  sent  to  Furness  by  the  royal  officials  had 
been  brought  back  in  triumph,  and  at  once  began 
again  their  corporate  life.  News  had  come  that  the 
Earl  of  Derby  was  on  his  way,  with  a  considerable 
force,  to  expel  the  reinstated  monks,  and  the  whole 
district  was  in  a  ferment  to  resist  to  the  last,  when 
Robert  Aske,  the  leader,  recognized  that  this  would 
be  impossible.  He  consequently  persuaded  the  people 
"who  had  already  attained  Whalley  Abbey,"  to  "with- 
draw them  to  the  mountains "  again. 

Beyond  this  mention  of  Whalley  as  a  kind  of  ren- 
dezvous for  the  insurgents,  there  is  very  little,  indeed, 
to  connect  either  the  monastery  or  its  abbot  with  the 
rising.  It  is  true  that  one  witness  at  the  subsequent 
trial  declared  that  the  abbot  had  lent  a  horse  to  Nicho- 
las Tempest  of  Brashall.  But  Tempest's  own  account 
of  this  is  very  different.  He  says  that  he  went  to  the 

265 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
abbey  "  with  three  or  four  hundred  men,"  and,  "  being 
kept  out  about  two  hours,  were  at  last  let  in,  for  fear 
of  burning  their  barns  and  houses.  And  there  he 
[Tempest]  swore  the  abbot  and  about  eight  of  his 
religious  according  to  Aske's  oath."  So  that  we  have  it 
in  evidence  that  even  the  oath  of  the  "  Pilgrims  "  was 
extorted  from  the  monks  by  threats  of  violence.  The 
only  other  matter  which  appears  against  Whalley  in 
the  documents  of  the  trial  is  that  the  Lord  Darcy  had 
had  some  communication  with  the  abbey.  "  Memo- 
randum," it  is  noted,  "also  Lord  Darcy  this  Lent  past 
sent  a  copy  of  a  letter,  which  my  Lord  of  Norfolk 
wrote  to  him,  unto  the  prior  of  Whalley,  who  is  now 
attainted  of  high  treason,  whereby  it  appeareth  that 
the  Lord  Darcy  favoured  the  said  prior,  being  a  traitor." 
According  to  the  available  evidence,  therefore,  the 
part  taken  by  Whalley  in  the  Rising  of  the  North  was 
very  slight.  There  is  nothing  at  all  which  could  be 
construed  into  any  ad:ive  co-operation  with  the  in- 
surgents. Still,  it  appears  that  Abbot  Paslew  was  tried 
at  Lancaster,  probably  by  martial  law,  together  with 
two  of  his  monks,  John  Eastgate  and  William  Hay- 
dock,  and  the  abbot  of  Sawley.  All  were  condemned ; 
the  latter,  William  Trafford,  was  hanged  at  Lancaster 
on  March  lo,  1537.  '^^^  abbot  of  Whalley  with  one 
of  his  monks,  Eastgate,  suffered  the  same  fate  two 
days  later  at  Whalley ;  the  other  member  of  the  com- 
munity one  day  later  still,  on  March  1 3,  in  a  field  some 
miles  from  his  monastery,  and  there  his  body  was  left 


265 


Whalley 
hanging  for  some  time.  The  executed  monks  were 
probably  still  swinging  before  their  monastery  when 
the  abbot  of  Furness  was  summoned  to  Whalley  to 
make  up  his  mind  whether  he  would  surrender  his 
abbey  or  no.  The  ghastly  sight  of  his  brethren  dangling 
from  the  gibbets  may  be  taken  to  have  assisted  him  in 
determining  to  do  the  King's  will  at  once. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  attainder  and  execution  of  the 
abbot  of  Whalley,  a  novel  interpretation  of  the  law  of 
treason  enabled  the  King  to  take  possession  of  the  abbey. 
Burnet  even  says  that  the  seizure  of  the  abbey  lands  "pur- 
suant to  those  attainders  was  through  a  great  stretch  of 
the  law."  Hitherto  the  attainder  of  a  bishop  or  abbot 
never  had  been  thought  to  entail  the  forfeiture  of  the 
goods  of  a  see  or  a  monastery,  and  it  was  left  to  Henry 
to  place  this  construction  on  the  law.  Writing  to  the 
Earl  of  Sussex  just  at  this  time,  the  King  lays  down 
his  interpretation  of  the  law.  He  thanks  the  earl  for 
the  punishment  of  those  who  had  offended  him,  and 
specially  for  the  execution  of  the  abbot  of  Whalley, 
as  well  as  for  having  "  taken  order  for  the  good  direc- 
tion of  the  house  and  the  safe  keeping  of  the  goods 
without  embezzlement";  as  the  house  "hath  been  so 
sore  corrupt  amongst  others,"  "  it  shall  be  meet  that 
some  order  be  taken  for  the  remotion  of  the  monks 
now  being  in  the  same,  and  that  [it  is  proper]  we 
should  take  the  whole  house  into  our  hands;  as  by  our 
laws  we  be  justly,  by  the  attainder  of  the  said  late 
abbot,  entitled  unto  it ;  and  so  devise  for  such  a  new 

267 


The  Greater  Abbeys 
establishment  thereof  as  shall  be  thought  meet  for  the 
honour  of  God,  our  surety  and   the  benefit  of  the 
country." 

Sussex  is  consequently  charged  to  use  all  dexterity 
in  accusing  the  monks  of  grievous  offences  "  towards 
us  and  our  commonwealth  "  and  then  to  try  and  get 
them  to  go  to  other  religious  houses  of  the  Order  or 
to  "  receive  secular  habit."  It  is  unnecessary  to  specu- 
late as  to  whether  Henry  had  any  serious  designs  of  re- 
establishing Whalley  Abbey.  If  he  had,  his  design 
quickly  passed  away,  for  by  Michaelmas,  1537,  one 
John  Kechin  had  been  appointed  receiver  at  Whalley, 
and  had  already  been  at  work  to  some  effect.  He  had  sold 
goods  and  got  in  rents  to  the  value  of  >C957  ^  ^s.  yd., 
had  already  sent  up  to  Brian  Tuke,the  King's  treasurer, 
some  ^49 1  IS.  lod.,  and  had  paid  away  ^T 100  for  the 
carriage  of  the  bullion  to  London. 

At  Whalley,  as  apparently  in  the  case  of  all  other 
monasteries,  the  superiors  of  which  had  been  attainted, 
none  of  the  monks  received  any  pension  on  being 
turned  out  of  their  old  home  to  find  their  way  in  the 
world  as  best  they  might. 


268 


Dl] 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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3  1205  01965  5412 


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